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Smithsonian magazine places a Smithsonian lens on the world, looking at the topics and subject matters researched, studied, and exhibited by the Smithsonian Institution—science, history, art, popular culture, and innovation—and chronicling them every day for our diverse readership.

The motives behind Smithson’s bequest remain mysterious. He never traveled to the United States and seems to have had no correspondence with anyone here. Some have suggested that his bequest was motivated in part by revenge against the rigidities of British society, which had denied Smithson, who was illegitimate, the right to use his father’s name. Others have suggested it reflected his interest in the Enlightenment ideals of democracy and universal education.