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DISCOVERING THE UNIVERSE'S MYSTERIES:
In 1836, Congress met to debate James Smithson's bequest, which established the Smithsonian. Former president John Quincy Adams argued that the money should be used for an astronomical observatory with telescopes. He called it "a lighthouse of the skies." In the late 1800s, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) set up telescopes behind the Smithsonian Castle and in field camps to observe eclipses and other phenomena.
In 1955, SAO moved its headquarters to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to work closely with the Harvard College Observatory. The two observatories joined forces to create the Center for Astrophysics, now one of the largest research organizations of its kind. Its staff provide scientific and engineering expertise for space satellites and Earth-based telescopes around the world. Smithsonian museums also collect and study historical telescopes, meteorites, and Moon rocks.
Today, SAO scientists, including Margaret Geller, Sheperd Doeleman, and Mercedes López-Morales, continue to study the formation of the universe, the physics of black holes, and search for life beyond our planet -- pursuing answers to some of the greatest mysteries. Photo credits Top: Courtesy of NASA/CXC/NGST Bottom: Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. |