In 1827, seventeen-year-old Jane Webb was adjusting to life after the death of her father. She stated that, “on the winding up of his affairs that it would be necessary more »
Category: Natural and Physical Sciences
On January 24, 2018, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) Earl. S. Tupper Library of Tropical Biology hosted an Open House in celebration of the Smithsonian Libraries 50th anniversary. The event honored the Library’s rich legacy and celebrated its impact supporting scholarship, research, and discovery at STRI. Attending the Open House were STRI staff and scientists, as well as distinguished members of the Panamanian community, including representatives of the National Library of Panama, the University of Panama, and the United States Embassy.
“Do your reading!” and “Don’t write in your books!” are two oft-echoed directions from schoolteachers. A 1491 edition of Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia housed in our Joseph F. more »
This post was written by Daniel Euphrat, Digital Imaging Technician and Leslie K. Overstreet, Curator of Natural-History Rare Books. The title of the book De anima brutorum commentaria by Francesco more »
To celebrate Hispanic American Heritage Month, the Smithsonian Libraries is honoring Puerto Rican American natural history illustrator Louis Agassiz Fuertes with a blog post in both English and Spanish. The Spanish translation (bottom of page) is courtesy of Angel Aguirre, library technician at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) Library in Panama City, Republic of Panama.
This post was written by James Truitt, intern in the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History.
In August, the National Museum of Natural History opened Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend, an exhibition about the tusked whale monodon monoceros sometimes called the unicorn of the sea. Most of the exhibit focuses on narwhal biology, arctic ecology, and Inuit culture, but one section breaks from the polar theme to explore another legacy of the narwhal—the mythical unicorn.
“George Sarton, a founder of the history of science as an academic discipline, argued that scholars should pay close attention to portraits. These images, he said, can give you ‘the whole man at once.’ With a ‘great portrait,’ Sarton believed, ‘you are given immediately some fundamental knowledge of him, which even the longest descriptions and discussions would fail to evoke.’ Sarton’s ideas led Bern Dibner to purchase portrait prints of men and women of science and technology. Many of these are now in the Smithsonian’s Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology.” – Deborah Jean Warner, Curator, Physical Sciences Collection
A picture may tell 1000 words, but another 500 for context can add depth to the image. Follow this blog series to discover the people behind the portraits available online in the Scientific Identity collection.