James Smithson, MA, FRS (5 June 1765 – 27 June 1829) was an English chemist and mineralogist. He was the founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithson was the illegitimate child of the 1st Duke of Northumberland, and was born secretly in Paris, possibly in the Pentemont Abbey, as Jacques-Louis Macie (later altered to James Louis). Eventually, he was naturalized in England and attended university, studying chemistry and mineralogy. At...
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James Smithson, MA, FRS (5 June 1765 – 27 June 1829) was an English chemist and mineralogist. He was the founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithson was the illegitimate child of the 1st Duke of Northumberland, and was born secretly in Paris, possibly in the Pentemont Abbey, as Jacques-Louis Macie (later altered to James Louis). Eventually, he was naturalized in England and attended university, studying chemistry and mineralogy. At...