Discover the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. In this workshop, participants explore the innovative compositions of the 20th-century Dutch printmaker M.C. Escher, to discover how his interlocking forms and shifting patterns inspire creative reflection about the connections and transformations in our lives.
Ages 7 to 11. Learn about the systems which built and shape our Mother Earth from her molten beginnings to her many ecosystems of today!
A quirky 18th-century international dispute over natural history quickly took on political overtones. Thomas Jefferson wanted to refute a French naturalist’s theory that all life in America was degenerate and weak, so he asked that a large dead moose be shipped to France. The theory, however, continued to have scientific, economic, and political implications for 100 years. Evolutionary biologist Lee Alan Dugatkin highlights this fascinating tale.
This spring, 55 colorful carved horses—plus one dragon—will again canter in circles on the National Mall when the Smithsonian Institution’s historic carousel returns after two years of restoration work. Built in 1947, the carousel was moved to the National Mall in 1981. After the Smithsonian purchased it in December 2022, restoration and fabrication experts Carousels and Carvings disassembled the carousel to begin repairing and restoring it. Company owner and president Todd Goings illuminates the intricate process of refurbishing the carousel.
Spend a fascinating Friday evening expanding your knowledge of the world of wine as you sip along with sommelier Erik Segelbaum in a series of delectable adventures. He explores offerings from both sides of South America’s Andes in an immersive program that includes a curated personal tasting kit to enhance the experience.
At the start of 1776, few Americans sought independence, grounding their protests instead in the rights of British subjects. By year’s end, independence had become unavoidable. Historian Edward J. Larson chronicles this pivotal year in American history, from the inspiring appeals of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in January; through midsummer, when the Second Continental Congress grounded independence in the “self-evident” truths of human equality and individual rights; to Paine’s urgent pleas of December, when “the times that try men’s souls” required Americans not to “shrink from the service of their country.”
From ancient times to the present scientists and philosophers have marveled at how such a seemingly abstract discipline as mathematics, which appears to have been a product of human thought, could so perfectly explain the natural world. In a fascinating presentation, astrophysicist Mario Livio explores why mathematics is a powerful lens through which to examine the cosmos.
