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Articles

Author Maya Angelou hosts the 2000 annual conference for the Children's Defense Fund in March 2007.

35 Who Made a Difference: Maya Angelou

By singing of her own hardships, she has given strength to others

35 Who Made a Difference: Wendell Berry

A Kentucky poet draws inspiration from the land that sustains him

35 Who Made a Difference: Renée Fleming

The soprano is renowned for her beguiling voice and presence

35 Who Made a Difference: Andy Goldsworthy

Using nature as his canvas, the artist creates works of transcendent beauty

A prodigy who played for President Kennedy at age 7, Ma (in 1988) is no snob, performing Bach to pop to tangos.

35 Who Made a Difference: Yo-Yo Ma

Humanitarian, globe-trotting teacher, good sport, ice-dancing fan and heckuva nice guy. Oh, and he plays the cello

35 Who Made a Difference: Julie Taymor

Transcending genres, the designer and director creates shamanistic theater

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Innovators of Our Time

We mark Smithsonian’s 35th anniversary by revisiting scientists, artists and scholars who’ve enriched the magazine and our lives

The Arkansas River flooded Natural Steps, Arkansas in 1927

After the Deluge

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a writer looks back at the repercussions of another great disaster—, the Mississippi flood of 1927

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Noxious Bogs & Amorous Elephants

Smithsonian’s birth, 35 years ago, only hinted at the splendors to follow

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One of a Kind

From the beginning, Smithsonian has looked beyond the Institution

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November Anniversaries

Momentous or merely memorable

35 Who Made a Difference: Robert Moses

A former civil rights activist revolutionizes the teaching of mathematics

35 Who Made a Difference: Mark Lehner

He took the blue-collar approach to the great monuments of Egypt

Bill Gates (in 2003) has "far surpassed anything I accomplished in engineering and business," says Jimmy Carter, now a fellow philanthropist.

35 Who Made a Difference: Bill Gates

The king of software takes on his biggest challenge yet

Sam Ogden

35 Who Made a Difference: Tim Berners-Lee

First he wrote the code for the World Wide Web. Then he gave it away

35 Who Made a Difference: Mark Plotkin

An ethnobotanist takes up the cause of rain forest conservation

35 Who Made a Difference: Douglas Owsley

Dead people tell no tales—but their bones do, when he examines them

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35 Who Made a Difference: Janis Carter

The primate who taught other primates how to survive in the wild

35 Who Made a Difference: James Watson

After DNA, what could he possibly do for an encore?

35 Who Made a Difference: John Dobson

Come one, come all. Share the sky with the father of sidewalk astronomy

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