The Lost World of James Smithson: Science, Revolution, and the Birth of the Smithsonian

This is a captivating, enlightening, and impressively researched investigation into the life and times of this enigmatic Englishman. I was pleasantly surprised at the range of information covered in this biography. A great read for anyone with an interest in any number of subjects, including the origins of modern scientific theory and practice, the social customs and familial relations in 18th century England, the impact on European society, science and travel during the Napoleonic Wars or the founding of the Smithsonian Institution.

This book written by the inspirated autor Heather P.Ewing opens more as just the entrydoors of the Smithsonian Museums and Zoo. Heather is giving even more as just an overview about Smithsons life and its also more as a classical biography. Heather is writing in the spirit of Smithson, she became part of his life just as a great musician is playing a composition of Mozart and is traducing his feelings of the moment when the composition was created by the master. If you know Heather P. Ewing personnal, you'll see that she is very inspirated and full of positivity, beleving in what she is doing. In her way of life, it's 'normal' that she wrote this fantastic book. Thanks to her and to her inspirator, Mr. Smithson. Gunter Cauwenberghs, Flanders (on this moment still belgium)

Biography of the Smithsonian benefactor reconstructs the life of this "English gentleman" scholar and scientist living on the cusp of the professionalization of science and the heady atmosphere of the American and French Revolutions. I say reconstructs because nearly all the papers and artifacts of his life were lost in the disastrous fire early in the life of the institution he bequeathed to the country he never visited, in lieu of the descendants he (and his surviving nephew) never had. For a public man of his time, little direct evidence remains of his passage of time--excepting that great institution!

Due to the loss of most of James Smithson's papers in a fire in 1865, the man who gave his name (and fortune) to The Smithsonian Institution has long been shrouded in myth as an eccentric dilettante who inexplicably left all his money to a place he'd never even visited. Heather P. Ewing's scholarly gamble was that, by recreating the society, intellectual milieu, people and places that defined Smithson, the man at the center would emerge from the shadows. It was a gamble that paid off brilliantly. Not only does the author successfully redefine Smithson as an important scientific figure in a crucial time in the history of science, but as a tormented and fascinating character, driven by ambition to gain acknowledgement from his aristocratic, quasi-secret, father. Smithson's pathologically litigious and improvident mother is an especially colorful character, who would seem right at home in a novel by Fielding or an engraving by Hogarth. In the quest for Smithson as an individual, Ewing creates a remarkably accessible "inside" account of the Scientific Revolution, its characters, controversies and practices, as Smithson crosses paths with a Who's Who of historical characters ranging from scientists Humphrey Davy and Lavoisier to the notorious Emma Hamilton, Dr. William Thornton (future architect of the U.S. capitol) and Napoleon. In this remarkable achievement of scholarship and engaging literary style, Ewing's book offers the reader a glimpse of a flawed and complicated individual at the center of the Scientific Revolution and, in so doing, vividly depicts the opportune historical moment that made possible (after nearly a decade of Congressional debate) the creation of world's largest museum and most sophisticated research complex in the still-rustic capital of the United States.

Excellent biography, piecing together what is known about the guy who provided a huge gift to found the Smithsonian, without ever having set foot in the USA. The Smithsonian had originally collected all of Smithson's papers, but they were destroyed in a fire before any serious scholarship. The author traveled through Europe collecting what could be found in original sources elsewhere, and paints a compelling portrait of an eccentric with a love of science and some unusual ideas. If you like 17th century types and the whole revolutionary milieu, this is a good read.