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Innovation

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Because of a Mathematician From Rural Virginia’s Work on Global Positioning, You Have No Excuse for Getting Lost

Gladys West had an “insatiable thirst for knowledge.” She used computers, radars and satellites to make calculations that led to the GPS technology that allows us to pinpoint any spot on the globe

Jennie Rothenberg Gritz
Illustration by Noa Denmon

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This Playful Interactive Reveals the Medical Advances That Have Made Life Better … and Sometimes Longer

The true story of the gin and tonic is less about a singular invention and more about the convergence of science, medicine, commerce and empire over several centuries.

The Gin and Tonic Is a Cocktail With a Storied History. Don’t Overlook Scotland’s Connection to the Classic

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In the Early Days of Machine Learning, Massive Computers Said George Harrison Was a Woman. A.I. Has Come a Long Way

CAR-T cells are a patient's own T cells, a form of white blood cell, that have been genetically modified to recognize and destroy certain cancer or autoimmune cells that might otherwise be tolerated by the immune system.

How a Revolutionary Cancer Treatment Could Reset the Immune Systems of Patients With Autoimmune Diseases

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

How the Hashtag Became the Way to Instantly Invite Literally Everyone Into the Conversation

In the nascent days of Twitter, users wanted a quick way to cluster posts about a single subject. Someone suggested using a pound sign, and #TheRestIsHistory

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

A Moment of Divine Inspiration Helped Melvil Dewey Bring Obsessive Order to the Infinitely Disorganized Stacks in the Library

The Massachusetts student let his mind wander during a Sunday sermon and created the decimal-based system that greatly simplified the search for any book you were looking for.

The “Ether Dome” at Massachusetts General Hospital is now a National Historic Landmark.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

The Operating Room Where Anesthesia Was First Demonstrated Is Now a Landmark. But for the Men Who Claimed Credit, There Was Much Misery

Medical procedures used to be a scream-filled endurance test until doctors at this Boston institution learned to tame the pain of patients

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

The Man Who Created a Written Language for the Cherokee Did It So Efficiently and Elegantly, His Peers Thought It Was Magic

Sequoyah’s syllabary faced suspicion initially, but after a demonstration, his version of “talking leaves” was widely embraced. And then the word spread

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

These Ten Remarkable Objects From the Smithsonian Collections Make the Case for America’s Status as the Innovation Nation

An encouragement for invention was written right into the Constitution, and whatever the task at hand, someone is always up for the challenge

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When Patent Protections Couldn’t Keep Pace With Ingenuity in the Colonies, One Inventive Woman Took Her Case to Britain

Sybilla Righton Masters devised a novel way to work with grains available to her in Philadelphia. A long journey led to the first patent issued to an American (though it went to her husband)

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Because of a Mathematician From Rural Virginia’s Work on Global Positioning, You Have No Excuse for Getting Lost

Gladys West had an “insatiable thirst for knowledge.” She used computers, radars and satellites to make calculations that led to the GPS technology that allows us to pinpoint any spot on the globe

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

This Playful Interactive Reveals the Medical Advances That Have Made Life Better … and Sometimes Longer

From replacing lost limbs to helping a heart find its rhythm, the work of American doctors and researchers has improved lives in incalculable ways

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

In the Early Days of Machine Learning, Massive Computers Said George Harrison Was a Woman. A.I. Has Come a Long Way

A Cornell professor designed a room-size network of sensors that represented a single neuron. He claimed it would grow wiser as it gained experience, and it has never stopped

A photo illustration of Jonas Salk.

America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When the Fear of Polio Gripped the World, Jonas Salk’s Determination Led to a Liberating Medical Breakthrough

The son of the doctor, himself now a physician and researcher, recalls his vaccination in the kitchen as painless. Now, he recounts the impact of the work his father led

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Smithsonian Magazine Presents: America at 250—The Revolutionary Spark

Celebrating the visionary insights & darling innovators that forged a nation.

The true story of the gin and tonic is less about a singular invention and more about the convergence of science, medicine, commerce and empire over several centuries.

The Gin and Tonic Is a Cocktail With a Storied History. Don’t Overlook Scotland’s Connection to the Classic

The country’s scientists, doctors, merchants and distillers all played significant roles in transforming the simple combination that packs a complicated mythology

CAR-T cells are a patient's own T cells, a form of white blood cell, that have been genetically modified to recognize and destroy certain cancer or autoimmune cells that might otherwise be tolerated by the immune system.

How a Revolutionary Cancer Treatment Could Reset the Immune Systems of Patients With Autoimmune Diseases

Researchers are testing CAR T-cell therapy as a treatment for lupus, Graves’ disease and other conditions in which the body’s defenses go rogue

Sue Schubel hand-paints around 500 a year from her workshop in a converted barn steps from the ocean in Bremen, Maine, a tiny town in the lower third of the state’s craggy coast.

How ‘Seabird Sue’ Blends Art and Science to Attract Birds Back to Lost Habitat

For the past decade, Sue Schubel has been making detailed decoys of terns, puffins and other seabirds to entice real ones to restored or new homes

Kang’s invention won second place and an award of $175,000 at the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search, the oldest and most prestigious science, technology, engineering and math competition for high school students in the United States.

This High Schooler Developed an A.I. Tool to Diagnose Autism and ADHD Using the Retina

Edward Kang’s RetinaMind analyzes patients’ retinal images and accurately diagnoses neurodevelopmental disorders 89 percent of the time

Hammarby Sjöstad was originally engineered to have a carbon footprint 50 percent lower than the rest of Stockholm.

This Stockholm Neighborhood Was Built on Ambitious Sustainability Goals. When It Came Up Short, It Doubled Down and Became a Blueprint for Others

The original plan for Hammarby Sjöstad was for an eco-village aimed at attracting the Olympics. They never came, but the locals moved in and, with upgrades, hope to be carbon neutral by 2030

The game has taken a variety of twists and turns.

How the Classic American Game of Twister Went From Risqué to Record-Breaking

Sixty years ago, Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor played Twister on the “Tonight Show,” and the public took it as permission to buy the controversial game

What if, rather than coral reef rehabilitation remaining a tedious and difficult manual process, conservationists could harness robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles to transform it into an industrial-scale endeavor?

Could Underwater Autonomous Robots Save Coral Reefs?

Reef restoration is a slow process, with divers planting coral fragments one at a time by hand. But roboticists are now developing automated planters that could change the game

More than 50 million people suffer from epilepsy around the world, making it one of the most common and severe neurological disorders globally.

These Young Innovators Have Created a ‘Fitbit’ to Predict Epileptic Seizures

Truman Pierson and Christopher Fitz are developing behind-the-ear EEG patches and an accompanying app that issues an alert if the user is at high risk for a seizure in the next hour

An aerial view of the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant, circa 1945

Walt Disney Visited a Ford Factory in 1948. What He Witnessed There Laid the Groundwork for What Would Become Disneyland

A new book argues that the film producer’s trip to the River Rouge plant in Michigan inspired him to embrace the power of automation when designing the first Disney theme park

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