In 1929, shortly after becoming Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Charles Greeley Abbot established a Division of Radiation and Organisms to study relationships between solar radiation and the growth of plants. This unsigned optical bench is probably the one that this Division purchased in 1930. Frederick Sumner Brackett (then on the payroll of the Fixed Nitrogen Lab at the U.S. Department of Agricultura) was research associate in charge of the Division. The Division became the Smithsonian Radiation Biology Laboratory in the 1960s.
Ref: Earl S. Johnston, “The Division of Radiation and Organisms: Its Origin and Scope,” The Scientific Monthly 63 (1946): 371-380.
“Report on the Division of Radiation and Organisms,” Smithsonian Institution Annual Report for the Year Ending June 30, 1930 (1931): 115-122.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.