Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Usually para crazy rich When he dies he will donate all his assets to his children. However, not those who chose to give their assets to the United States (US) government to establish museums and libraries.
What's the story?
The story begins at the end of the 18th century. At that time in England there was a scientist who was also the son of a nobleman named James Smithson. He was a very lucky person from an economic perspective because he inherited a lot from his family and had a lot of money from research results.
Despite his wealth, Smithson rarely used his money. Because he lived alone, meaning he had no dependents, until he died at the age of 60 in 1829.
When he died he inherited enormous wealth. However, three years earlier, he had written a will regarding ownership of property if he died.
Apparently, he wanted his nephew to take the treasure and donate the rest to the US for scientific purposes. He wants Uncle Sam to have a very large scientific institution based on his wealth.
Incidentally, the amount of money donated is equal 105,000 pounds sterling. In today's exchange rate, it is equivalent to 7-9 million pounds sterling or IDR 140 billion.
Quoting from Smithsonian Magazine, when there was news that British people wanted to donate property to the US, President Andrew Jackson immediately formulated the concrete form of Smithson's idea. For the US this is like a “windfall”, especially since the money is being diverted to science which usually requires expensive capital.
The government believes that through science, the US will become a very advanced and powerful country. However, process the formulation of the idea went a long way.
The idea to make a prototype from this money never reached a consensus. In fact, based on the testimony of senator Heather Ewing in The Lost World of James Smithson (2008), the donated money is in danger of being lost due to management failure when diverting it to various forms of investment instruments.
In fact, Smithson's money was also used as capital bribery by several irresponsible individuals. As a result of this problem, the formulation of knowledge institutions was immediately accelerated.
Until finally in 1844 the idea emerged to divert the money for development museums, libraries, botanical gardens, research institutes, etc., into one common complex. In the future, it will become an integrated science development center.
On August 10, 1846, the government officially signed the law establishing a knowledge complex with capital of IDR 140 billion from Smithson. Later, the complex was named as Smithsonian Institution.
Now, the Smithsonian Institution is the pride of the US. QConsisting of 19 museums, nine research institutes, a zoo and a library
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(mfa/sef)