In 1826 a not very happy James Smithson of England sat down to write his will. He had half a million dollars but only a nephew to enjoy them. He was 61 and infirm. His father, the Duke of Northumberland, had never married his mother, a Tudor lady. He had spent his life less among men than in the pursuit of knowledge— mixing chemicals, examining minerals, pondering the earth's origin, improving oil lamps. He had never been in the U. S. but it occurred to him that in such a young country on such...
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