The impact of ex-pat patronage is clear when one realizes that James Smithson’s bequest of 150 bags of gold led to the birth of the network of libraries and museums that are The Smithsonian.  It is an amazing accomplishment from one of Pembroke’s most fascinating alumni—and yet another example of a Pembrokian who defied expectations.

Consider adding Steven Turner’s new book “The Science of Smithson” to your stack of COVID-books.   Delve into the habits and mind of Smithson, so much more than his “aristocratic science dabbler” label.

https://www.amazon.com/Science-James-Smithson-Discoveries-Smithsonian-ebook/dp/B084M5JQHN

Both Kirkus and The Wall Street Journal suggests that the read will be worth your time.

WALL STREET JOURNAL.    
“Although he published close to 30 articles in leading journals, Smithson’s scientific efforts have often been viewed as mere dabbling, busywork with little impact. Not so, exclaims Mr. Turner, a retired curator of physical sciences at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. To rectify the record, the author re-creates, down to the smallest detail, the experiments Smithson had conducted and written about, using the tools he would have used. The result is a quirky, oddly touching book that allows us to step, for a few moments, inside the world of a practicing Enlightenment scientist, to sit beside him as he fans the flames of a candle with his little blowpipe, waiting for that small mineral in front of him to melt and yield its secrets.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS
“After rerunning Smithson’s experiments, a substantial feat in its own right, Turner, a historian of science and emeritus curator of physical sciences at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, convincingly refutes the charge that his subject was an ‘aristocratic science dabbler,’ a charge largely based on his interest in practical applications, such as improving the process of coffee-making. […] Solid insight into the work of a man whose gift undergirds one of the most important U.S. institutions of learning.”