Smithsonian Institution

Academic organization in Washington, DC, USA, founded in 1846 with money left by British chemist and mineralogist James Smithson. The Smithsonian Institution, ‘an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge’, undertakes scientific research but is also the parent organization of a collection of museums.

The Smithsonian Institution's second curator, the naturalist Spencer Baird (1823-87), at the expense of research, increased funds for collection and exploration, thereby securing its role as a leading museum.

It includes the United States National Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Collection of Fine Arts. The Smithsonian Institution also has a zoo and an astrophysical observatory. The institution sponsors scientific expeditions and publishes the results.

In September 1999 a decision was taken to establish the National Museum of the American Indian, which will form part of the Smithsonian Institution. The $10 million museum, which would be opened by 2002, will be situated between the US Capitol and the National Air and Space Museum.

The Smithsonian received the largest cash donation ever given by a living person to a US museum when Kenneth Behring, a former owner of the Seattle Seahawks professional football team, donated a gift of $80 million/£50 million. The money was intended to refurbish exhibits at the National Museum of American History, which will change its name to the Behring Center. In 1997, Behring gave $20 million/£12.5 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History to update the mammal wing, which is also now named after him.