Smithsonian Associates - Educating and Entertaining Audiences for More Than 50 Years

Join mosaic artist Bonnie Fitzgerald for an inside look at a variety of mosaic treasures at notable public sites, contemporary spaces, and federal and private buildings that contain unexpected gems in Washington, DC.

Aviation writer and filmmaker Paul Glenshaw tells the story of the epic race between two engineering teams who ran a neck-and-neck race to be the first to fly in the fall and winter of 1903. One was a pair of brothers—Orville and Wilbur Wright. The other team was Dr. Samuel Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian, and his assistant, Charles Matthews Manly. We know who won—but do we know why?

From the 1790s until World War I, Western museums filled their shelves with art and antiquities from around the world that are now widely seen as stolen or plundered. Historian Justin M. Jacobs examines an exodus of cultural treasures from northwestern China that reveals a path shaped by factors more complex—and surprising—than coercion, corruption, and deceit.

Join astrophysicists Katie Mack and Sara Seager for a fascinating conversation about their work, their new books, and the wonders of the universe. Theoretical cosmologist and self-described “connoisseur of cosmic catastrophes” Mack offers a witty take on five theories of how the universe could end, and Seager, a planetary scientist, shares how while searching the universe for another Earth, she found deeper ways to connect to the world she already knew in the wake of her husband’s unexpected death.

The new film Tesla is a freewheeling take on the career of visionary inventor Nikola Tesla (played by Ethan Hawke) and his frustrations and breakthroughs in transmitting electrical power and light. Join award-winning filmmaker Michael Almereyda, who wrote, directed, and produced Tesla, and Kyle MacLachlan, who plays Tesla’s rival Thomas Edison, as they discuss their experiences in making a biographical film that—like its subject—is highly unconventional.