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

Rita Colwell, a pioneering microbiologist and the first woman to lead the National Science Foundation, has long known that her profession is not always welcoming to women. Yet she and others excelled despite the obstacles they faced. Colwell examines how women successfully pushed back against the status quo—and what science gained in the process.

A new year is a chance to begin again. Learn strategies from Karen Mangia, TEDx presenter and best-selling author, designed to help move you from intentions to actions, acceptance to acceleration, and resolutions to results. This just might be your year to succeed!

From the Revolution to the Civil War to the postwar boom and the tech boom, Arlington County has always been a canvas for American history. Historian Kathryn Springston follows its story through four centuries of social and economic change.

Washington, D.C., has given much to the musical world beyond its best-known exports Duke Ellington and the punk and go-go scenes. In a 3-session series, join musician, broadcaster, and historian Ken Avis as he explores the area’s lesser-known, remarkable, and fascinating musical avenues across the decades and why they could only have developed here. This session focuses on D.C.'s jazz legacy.

Join Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey for a sure-to-be-memorable interview with Gayle King as he shares unvarnished stories from his memoir Greenlights and explains how they instilled in him the importance of values, the power of new experiences, and, as he puts it, “either changing your reality or changing how you see it.”