Museum Loans Artifacts to Carnegie Institution of Washington

The National Museum of Health and Medicine has loaned embryological models, a microscope, notes, slides, photographs, and tools to the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The artifacts will be on display through May 31, 2002 in an exhibit entitled "Our Expanding Universe: Celebrating a Century of Carnegie Science, 1902-2002" in celebration of Carnegie's centennial year.

The artifacts were borrowed from the Washington, D.C. museum's Human Developmental Anatomy Center (HDAC), which maintains and archives the largest collection of human and comparative developmental material in the world.

The collection includes normal human embryos and abnormal specimens commonly used for non-destructive research, related photographs, illustrations, models and publications.

The items were used by Dr. Elizabeth Ramsey in her study of the human embryo. Ramsey, who died in 1993, was a leading authority in developing an understanding of circulation within the fetal- placental unit. She was named distinguished scientist of the year by the Society for Gynecological Investigation and she received the Distinguished Service Award of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The exhibition tells the story of the Carnegie Institution's role as a pioneering research and educational organization, which includes fostering the scientific talent and research that led to some of the 20th Century's most important scientific discoveries.

A few of the people featured in the exhibition include Vannevar Bush, Carnegie president who directed the science effort for World War II-including the Manhattan Project-from Carnegie's 16th Street building; astronomer Edwin Hubble, who discovered that the universe is expanding; aviator Charles Lindbergh, who made the first-ever aerial archeological survey at Carnegie's Mayan sites and later became a Carnegie trustee; Charles Richter, creator of the earthquake-measuring Richter scale; archeologist Earl Morris, the inspiration for the movie character Indiana Jones; geneticists and Nobel laureates Barbara McClintock, who found that genes can jump between chromosomes and Alfred Hershey, who determined that DNA is our genetic material; and George Ellery Hale, who built the largest telescopes of their day at Carnegie's Mt. Wilson Observatory. The exhibition is in the Carnegie Institution's administration building at 1530 P Street, NW (the corner of 16th and P Streets), three blocks due east of Dupont Circle (the nearest Metro stop) and 10 blocks due north of the White House. Admission is free and open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, with extended hours to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. The exhibition is closed Mondays and holidays. For more information, call 202-387-6400 or visit their web site at www.CarnegieInstitution.org. The Carnegie is a private, nonprofit organization engaged in basic research and advanced education in biology, astronomy, and the earth sciences. It was founded in 1902 by Andrew Carnegie, who provided an initial endowment of $10 million and later gave additional millions, and was incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1904.

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