Authorised form of name | Smithson; James (1765 - 1829) |
Other forms of name | James Louis |
James Lewis |
Louis |
Other forms of surname | Macie |
Dates | 1765 - 1829 |
Place of birth | France |
Date of birth | 1765 |
Place of death | Genoa, Italy |
Date of death | 27 June 1829 |
DatesAndPlaces | Burial: English cemetery of San Benigno, Genoa |
Research field | Chemistry |
Mineralogy |
Activity | Education: MA (1786) Pembroke College, Oxford Career: Named James Lewis Macie as a child, he changed his name from Macie to Smithson, and while in France changed it again to 'de Smithson', to be seen as a Milord anglais. Bequest to USA valued at $500,000 and until John Quincy Adams took a hand, the US was thinking of turning the money down. Established the Smithsonian Institution with £104,960 (Act of Congress 1846)
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Membership category | Fellow |
Date of election | 19/04/1787 |
Relationships | Illegitimate son of Hugh Smithson (FRS 1736), later 1st Duke of Northumberland, and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate, possibly the daughter of Henry Keate who was uncle of George Keate (FRS 1766); assumed name of Smithson (c1802) |
Source | Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB Obituaries: Proc Roy Soc 1830-1831 No 1 pp 8-9 Notes: Ewing, Heather 'The Lost World of James Smithson' Bloomsbury (2007) |
Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/30318758 |
Code | NA3058 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNo | Title | Date |
EC/1787/03 | Smithson, James: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
M/215 | Smithson, James | 1965 |
L&P/12/38 | Paper, 'A chemical analysis of some calamines' by James Smithson | 1802 |
L&P/12/128 | Letter, 'Account of a discovery of native minium' from James Smithson to Joseph Banks | 3 March 1806 |
PT/2/3/2 | Plate, drawings of crystal structures by James Smithson | [1808] |
PT/5/10 | Paper, 'On the composition of zeolite' by James Smithson | [1811] |
PT/7/6 | Paper, 'On a substance from the elm tree, called ulmin' by James Smithson | [1812] |
PT/12/6 | Paper, 'A few facts relative to the colouring matters of some vegetables' by James Smithson | [1817] |
PT/7/30 | Paper, 'On a saline substance from Mount Vesuvius' by James Smithson | 3 July 1813 |
PT/2/3 | Paper, 'On the composition of the compound sulphuret from Huel Boys, and an account of its crystals' by James Smithson | [1808] |
PT/2/3/1 | Manuscript, 'On the composition of the compound sulphuret from Huel Boys, and an account of its crystals' by James Smithson | [1808] |
MC/12/37 | Letter from Spencer F [Fullerton] Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, to Dr Alex W [Alexander William] Williamson, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, London | 15 April 1880 |
MC/12 | Volume 12 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1880-1883 |
AP/13/28 | Unpublished paper, address as President of the Royal Society by Davies Gilbert | 30 November 1829 |