This American wonder was made possible by British scientist James Smithson who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institute, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
Thing is, Smithson never set foot on American soil or had any American relatives. Smithson never discussed with friends or colleges anything about the United States or it's contributions to science. Yet, he donated half a million dollars or 1/66 of the United States’ federal budget to this country that was seemingly alien to him.
We can wonder about his reasoning (which we will probably never know and cannot know the answer to and doesn’t really have any significant repercussions), or we can wonder about the greater mysteries of the universe like the Smithsonian encourages.
