https://mallhistory.org/files/original/fda9ebb004b5f40a2eeaa475955bba04.jpg db6ad6acb82808b27c7864f926650cb3 People An individual, biographical data, birth and death, etc. Birth Date 1765 Birthplace Paris Death Date 06/27/1829 Occupation Scientist First Name for nav purposes James Last Name for nav purposes Smithson Biographical Text James Smithson was born James Lewis Macie in Paris around 1765, the illegitimate son of an English peer and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie, a wealthy English widow. By the mid 1770s, he had become a naturalized British citizen. In 1782, still using the name Macie, he enrolled at Pembroke College at the University of Oxford, from which he earned an MA in 1786; his studies largely focused on the sciences, in particular chemistry and geology. Only a year after completing his studies, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in London. He spent most of his adult life traveling in Europe conducting scientific research. In 1800, his mother died; her estate was divided equally between James and his half-brother Henry Dickinson. A year later, James changed his last name to Smithson, which had been his father’s name. Smithson died in 1829 in Italy. Unmarried and without heirs, Smithson left his money to a nephew with the requirement that if the nephew died without heirs, the money would go to the United States to establish a center of learning "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men" that would eventually become the Smithsonian Institution. Smithson's fortune of $500,000, together with his papers, became the basis of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1904, Smithson's remains were moved to Washington D.C, where they were placed in a crypt inside the Smithsonian Castle. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource James Smithson Description An account of the resource British scientist James Smithson provided the funding necessary to create the Smithsonian Institution. Born in France and educated at Oxford University in England, Smithson was a wealthy chemist and mineralogist. He never married or had any children. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/510">In his will</a>, he wrote that if his nephew, who was his only heir, died without heirs, then his entire estate should go to the United States to develop in Washington "under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Smithson's nephew died in 1835, and the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/52">Smithsonian Institution</a> was <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/162">founded in 1846</a>. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Pre-1800s 1800-1829 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Smithsonian Institution Archives. <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_8245?back=%2Fsearch%2Fsia_search_collections%2FHeliotype%2520Printing%2520Co">View original image</a>. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource James Smithson museums