Smithsonian Magazine

“Slaughter is slaughter regardless of the species or the killing method.” The Stradivarius Myth “The Ultimate Craftsman” (November/December 2022) perpetuates the myth that Stradivari are superior in sound to modern violins. This claim has been debunked in a series of rigorously conducted double-blind tests on master violinists and audience members, published by Claudia Fritz, Joseph Curtin and colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Neither violinists nor audience members were able to distinguish the highly valued old instruments from new ones, and, in some cases, they showed a preference for the new ones. The myth of the Stradivari should be put to rest. Daniel J. Levitin | Montreal Mississippi John Hurt My family and I found the article about my grandfather Mississippi John Hurt (“Tribute to a Legend,” November/December 2022) disrespectful and…

THE SMITHSONIAN CASTLE has been a symbol of the Institution from the very beginning. On the outside, the Institution’s first building has hardly changed at all since its construction in 1855—but just like the Smithsonian itself, the Castle has gone through many iterations over the years. This distinctive structure has mirrored the societal and institutional values of the time, for better or worse. The iconic red stone that makes up the building’s exterior is sandstone that was mined by enslaved people at the Seneca Quarry in Maryland, some 30 miles northwest of the National Mall. Like the United States Capitol and the White House, the Smithsonian Castle’s foundation was built by enslaved hands. Just ten years after construction was completed—and months before the 13th Amendment was ratified, marking the abolition of slavery—the…

TOP OF THE PAGE: ALERT FROM ORBIT An expansive new view of Earth and the air we breathe This spring, NASA, in conjunction with the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, plans to launch TEMPO, a satellite that will measure air pollution hourly across North America. It can capture data at a resolution of four square miles, a massive improvement over earlier instruments that could only focus down to 155 square miles. TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) will conduct long-term scientific research as well as serve more immediate needs, including chemical weather forecasting and air quality alerts. Based on data from TEMPO, “we hope you’ll be able to take out your smartphone and look at an app and ask, ‘Can I run this morning?’” says project investigator Kelly Chance in a…

FORMER PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON considered the proposal “little short of madness.” The project became known as “Clinton’s Folly”—an embarrassment to the state of New York and its governor, DeWitt Clinton. Yet shortly after the locks opened in 1825, completing a man-made waterway that connected the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, the critics were silenced, and the Erie Canal, one of the greatest engineering marvels in history, charted America’s course from colonial start-up to global superpower. Around 1807, commercial interests in New York State started agitating for a canal to link the Midwest and the Eastern Seaboard. A transportation corridor to the Great Lakes would open the nation’s interior to global trade and promote the development of an American heartland. Raw materials would come east; people would move west. In Clinton’s…

SHE SAW THE PEOPLE who appeared in her photographs—Parisian butchers, Harlem matrons, the children of postwar Dublin—less as subjects than as collaborators. German-born Evelyn Hofer, who died in 2009 at age 87, began her career when the vogue in photography was for candid, even sneaky shots. But Hofer, who preferred a cumbersome 4-by-5-inch viewfinder camera mounted on a tripod, found that approach not only impractical but distasteful. “One reason I like to work with a big camera is I don’t like to spy on people,” she said. “I respect them and I want them to respect what we are doing together.” In the mid-20th century, Hofer turned her lens on the social upheaval then churning through American and European cities. “She was keyed in on issues of race and class…

ATERRIFIED BALD MAN stood in front of a Viennese apartment building on a cold evening. It was March 1938, and Nazi Germany had just annexed Austria. An unassuming woman opened the front door. “Mary,” the man whispered. It functioned almost as a password. His name was Manfred Ackermann. A socialist leader as well as a Jew, Ackermann was in danger. He hoped he would be safe with Mary, 36, who had a reputation in the Austrian Resistance for helping its members evade Nazis. Inside her apartment, Ackermann and Mary spoke in whispers. Ackermann needed a fake passport and a hiding place until he could escape Austria. Mary assured him she could take care of both. He handed her his photograph, and she took him outside and led him to a different apartment building…