4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
and provide educational motivation for not a few of its millions of 
visitors each year. Because of the present importance of interesting 
enough talented students in scientific studies to assure that our country 
will remain scientifically and technologically strong, it is especially 
fortunate that at just this time the work of the Smithsonian is be- 
coming so effective in displaying the essential relationship between 
pure and applied science and in demonstrating how research has led 
to progress in many fields in recent years. 
It should be recorded also that forward steps were made during the 
year in planning new wings for the Natural History Building, as 
authorized by Congress last year. 
As the detailed statements of the various bureau directors of the 
Smithsonian presented in this report demonstrate, the Institution 
is by no means exclusively concerned with museum displays. This 
year’s record of publications indicates that the Institution is now, as 
in past years, playing a vital role in the communication of scientific 
information to the laboratories and research centers of the nation and 
the world. This year also the Smithsonian has issued some popular 
works based upon its collections for the information of a broader 
public. 
One of the most dramatic aspects of the work of the Institution 
during the time covered by this report is that of the Smithsonian 
Astrophysical Observatory. Funds have been provided for some of 
the work of this bureau by grants from foundations and from the 
committee in charge of the International Geophysical Year. As a 
result of the use of these special funds, it has been possible to estab- 
lish Smithsonian Institution observing centers for artificial satellites 
in the following locations: Argentina, Australia, Florida, Hawaii, 
Japan, India, Iran, Curacao, New Mexico, Peru, South Africa, and 
Spain. The observations at these centers have also been made more 
adequate by the installation in each of them of a newly devised type 
of astronomical camera or recording telescope that has unique fea- 
tures. Information obtained from these stations is communicated to 
the headquarters of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at 
Cambridge, Massachusetts. At this center calculations are made that 
have allowed the Institution to describe the orbits of all the major 
artificial satellites and to make accurate predictions concerning the 
characteristics of their motions. 
As noted below in special sections, this report year has indeed been 
one of progress in many aspects of the work of the Institution. 
THE ESTABLISHMENT 
The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 
1846, in accordance with the terms of the will of James Smithson, of 
