major part of the Center for Astrophysics in 

 Cambridge, Mass., operated jointly with Harvard 

 University. Langley also promoted the National 

 Zoological Park. 



Charles Walcott. Charles Doolittle Walcott, who 

 was the next Secretary, was an invertebrate pa- 

 leontologist. While in office he continued his own 

 research on trilobites; in addition he pTOmoted 

 aviation, continuing Langley's experimentation 

 and helping to organize NACA.'**'' Starting in 

 1915, Walcott sponsored some of Robert H. God- 

 dard's early experiments with rockets through 

 grants from the income of the Smithsonian's 

 Hodgkins Fund.'***^ 



Charles Abbot. Charles Greely Abbot was an- 

 other Secretary who not only did research but 

 also promoted its growth within the Smithsonian. 

 He did research all the time he was Secretary and 

 continued long after, getting a patent in the field 

 of solar energy after his one hundredth birthday. 

 An earlier invention of his was the pyrheliometer, 

 which was used worldwide to measure the intensi- 

 ty of incident sunlight.'**'* For the Institution, he 

 established a Division of Radiation and Organism, 

 currently the Radiation Biology Laboratory in 

 Rockville, Md.; this unit conducted fundamental 

 research on the relation of solar radiation to the 

 growth of plants. 1*^ In addition. Abbot participa- 

 ted in establishing permanent formal control of 

 the Canal Zone Biological Area (Barro Colorado 

 Island in Gatun Lake) in 1940. This has since 

 become a total Smithsonian responsibility and it is 

 now known as the Tropical Research Institute, i*" 



Alexander Wetmore. No major additional re- 

 search activities seem to have been added by the 

 ornithologist. Secretary Alexander Wetmore, but 

 he did obtain important building additions, as 

 have his successors. Secretary Leonard Carmi- 

 chael, a psychologist, did a great deal to enhance 

 the Institution's programs in the history of sci- 

 ence and the history of art; he also was responsi- 

 ble for the association of the SAO with Harvard. 

 Under Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, another orni- 

 thologist, there have been several research-ori- 

 ented additions. One is a Center for Shortlived 

 Phenomena, a clearinghouse to alert interested 

 scientists about such varied events as volcanic 

 eruptions and earthquakes, fireballs, oil spills, fish 

 kills, and sudden wild animal migrations. This has 

 spun ofT as an independent operation and has 

 been replaced for in-house scientists by SEAN, 

 Scientific Event Alert Network, which concen- 



trates on the natural phenomena. There has been 

 some reorganization to pull together work in 

 oceanography, limnology, and ecology. This effort 

 included the creation of a laboratory on the 

 western shore of Chesapeake Bay for cooperative 

 research and education in ecology. 



Current Trends 



Until 1858, when Congress appropriated $4,000 

 for the arrangement and care of the national 

 collections, the only operating funds were the in- 

 terest on the endowment;'^- as late as 1901 the 

 endowment was still less than $1 million. l"'^ The 

 last reported market value of the endowment and 

 similar funds (September 1976) is $44.7 million, of 

 which $12.7 million is for estuarine and coastal 

 oceanographic research in Florida, $16.0 million is 

 for the Freer Gallery of Art, $7.4 million is for 

 other restricted uses, and $8.5 million is for unres- 

 tricted uses. The interest from both the latter two 

 categories is spent largely for research. There are 

 also grants and other bequests, amounting to al- 

 most $5 million in a recent 15-month period, a 

 large portion of which are for research. i'*'' The 

 Smithsonian has received many grants from the 

 Research Corporation, a private foundation 

 formed in 1912 with the help of Secretary Wal- 

 cott. Although the Smithsonian has close ties with 

 this foundation (traditionally the Secretary of the 

 Institution is a member of the Corporation's 

 board of directors), it is not the foundation's 

 principal beneficiary. ''^'^ 



Estimated Federal obligations for basic re- 

 search in FY 1977 for the Smithsonian amount to 

 $30.6 million — $13.0 million for life sciences, 

 $10.1 million for social sciences, $5.1 million for 

 physical sciences, and $2.4 million for environ- 

 mental sciences, i^f) This is in addition to the re- 

 search done with nonfederal funds. 



The Smithsonian is actively carrying out its 

 mission — to increase and diffuse knowledge. The 

 popularity of its museums, its zoological park, the 

 Smithsonian Associates, and the Smithsonian 

 Magazine demonstrate continued success in diffu- 

 sion, as does the volume of its scholarly publica- 

 tions and communications. The increase of knowl- 

 edge is also proceeding on many fronts, including 

 physical and cultural anthropology (not only of 



'«7|bid., pp. 54-55. 

 "«Ibid., pp. 58- .59. 

 Wlhid.. pp. 59-61. 

 iwibid., pp. 112-122. 

 I'Mbid., pp. 124-125. 



344 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 



'"'-"Statement by the Secretary." (Smithsonian Institution: 

 Washington, DC. 1976), p. 9. 



'""Duprecp. 284. 



'''''"Statement by the Secretary." op. cit., p. 47, supplement- 

 ed by direct communication between Smithsonian and NSB 

 staffs, July 1977. 



'■"Oehser II. pp. 204-205; "Science. Invention and Society," 

 (Research Corporation: New York, 1971). pp. 2-6 



^^Federal Funds. Vol. XXVI. NSF 77-.-<17. Table CM. 



