The world's largest museum complex, the Smithsonian Institution had its humble beginnings in the heart and mind -- and ultimately, the death -- of an illegitimate son of English nobility.
James Lewis Macie, born in 1765, was the son of a Duke, Hugh Smithson, and widowed English royalty, Elizabeth Keate Hungerford Macie. After his mother's death, he took his father's surname: Smithson.
A scientist by trade and at heart, Smithson published 27 papers throughout his life -- on chemistry, geology and mineralogy -- in various scientific journals. His choice of topics included everything from the chemical compounds in a lady's teardrop to an improved method of brewing coffee. He was most famous for overturning popular scientific opinion by proving that zinc carbonates were true carbonate minerals, not zinc oxides.
But what mark his papers didn't leave on the world, his final request did. Smithson died in Italy on June 27, 1829, at the age of 64. He left all of his estate and belongings to his nephew -- with one provision that would change the course of American history. If his nephew died without any heirs, the inheritance would go to "the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge ... ."
Needless to say, Smithson's nephew left no heirs. But the United Sates didn't just inherit a sum of $508,813. It inherited a full-on political debate about accepting gifts from foreigners. Several senators made claims against the practice, afraid it would set a precedent of people being able to "purchase" their namesakes on national institutions.
President Andrew Jackson ultimately laid the groundwork for the young nation to accept the posthumous gift. But it would take several more years of legal battles in England before the money would make it back the U.S.
Read more at Discovery News
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