# Smithsonian was founded with money from an English guy who never visited the US

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smithsonian-was-founded-with-money-from-an-english-guy-who-never-visited-the-us/847737>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 10, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smithsonian-was-founded-with-money-from-an-english-guy-who-never-visited-the-us/847737 "2020-02-10T16:37:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smithsonian-was-founded-with-money-from-an-english-guy-who-never-visited-the-us/847737/1 "2020-02-10T16:37:42Z")

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He had no wife or children to leave his money to.

> **[James Smithson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Smithson)**
>
> James Smithson FRS (c. 1765 – 27 June 1829) was an English chemist and mineralogist. He published numerous scientific papers for the Royal Society during the late 1700s as well as assisting in the development of calamine, which would eventually be renamed after him as "smithsonite". He was the founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution, which also bears his name.
> Born in Paris, France, as the illegitimate child of Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie\[citation needed\] and Hugh Percy, the 1st Du...

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**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smithsonian-was-founded-with-money-from-an-english-guy-who-never-visited-the-us/847737/2 "2020-02-10T22:38:05Z")

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As I recall The Smithsonian was actually founded with with money that congress apportioned to replace the money he gifted. Because the language behind gifting was so vague they kept dicking around and eventually invested his money in some gold scam and lost it all.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smithsonian-was-founded-with-money-from-an-english-guy-who-never-visited-the-us/847737/3 "2020-02-10T23:00:44Z")

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> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> He had no wife or children to leave his money to.

He actually left his money to his nephew, but when his nephew died without heirs six years later the money reverted to the US government.

Although he never visited the US during his lifetime, his remains are there now. He, or rather [his tomb,](https://austria-forum.org/af/Geography/America/United_States/Pictures/Washington/Smithsonian_Institution_Building_-_Tomb_of_James_Smithson) is actually on display at the Smithsonian, where he was re-interred after his death in Italy. (I believe his casket is actually buried below the monument.)