Technology & Space | Smithsonian Magazine

After the first atomic bomb explosion (seen here from 10,000 yards away, in a time series from .006 seconds to .081 seconds after detonation), Oppenheimer recalled, "a few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent."

Building the Bomb

A book about atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer charts the debate over deployment of the first A-bomb and the anxiety that suffused its first live test

August 2005

A Martian meteorite fueled speculation and debate in 1996 when scientists reported that it held signs of past life. The search now moves to Mars itself.

Life on Mars?

It's hard enough to identify fossilized microbes on Earth. How would we ever recognize them on Mars?

May 2005

Invention at Play

The Lemelson Center celebrates a decade of nurturing the inventor in each of us

April 2005

Magnificent Magnifications

Microscope jockeys from around the world enter their masterpieces in an annual art show

October 2004

Splendid Isolation

When the first astronauts to walk on the Moon returned from their July 1969 lunar expedition, they were confined to quarters

July 2004

Stars are being born within the smoldering Swan Nebula 5,500 light-years away.

Hubble's Last Hurrah

The orbiting space telescope has captured star births and deaths, galactic collisions and the accelerating expansion of the universe

July 2004

Navy dolphin K-Dog sports a "pinger" device that allows him to be tracked underwater.

Uncle Sam's Dolphins

In the Iraq war, highly trained cetaceans helped U.S. forces clear mines in Umm Qasr's harbor

September 2003

Chemical structure of the Penicillin core

Eureka!

Accident and serendipity played their parts in the inventions of penicillin, the World Wide Web and the Segway super scooter

September 2003

Star formation in the constellation Orion as photographed in infrared by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

Astronomy's New Stars

Thanks to new technology, backyard stargazers have traveled light-years of late to join professionals in mapping the heavens

September 2002

Peewee Power

The invention of a gas-fueled generator the size of a quarter heralds a future of ever-smaller machines

July 2002

Second Nature

More and more, innovative scientists are turning to the natural world for inspiration...and design solutions

July 2002

Living Off the Land

Robots that feed themselves could become self-propelled farm machinesor military snipers

July 2001

Smithsonian Science

Extending a Recording Discoveries and Innovation

May 31, 2001

Reaching Toward Space

His 1935 rocket was a technological tour de force, but Robert H. Goddard hid it from history

February 2001

"When Bandogs Howle and Spirits Walk"

Studying the nighttime hours across the centuries, says historian Roger Ekirch, sheds light on preindustrial society

January 1, 2001

A Rare Bird

January 2001

Something's Fishy about this Robot

When it comes to speed and maneuverability, fish leave man-made submersibles floundering, but RoboTuna and friends may change all that

July 31, 2000

Squaring the Circle Is No Piece of Pi

Mathematicians have sliced, and now supercomputers have crunched, but the mystery of pi goes on and on and...

April 30, 2000

Redefining Robots

At his laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, researcher Mark Tilden creates machines that march to the beat of a different drummer

February 1, 2000

Making the Chips that Run the World

Making the Chips that Run the World A piece of cake: put 9½ million transistors in a space the size of your thumbnail and allow zero contamination

January 1, 2000