In 1796, George Washington, in his farewell address to his fellow-countrymen, said: "Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened." Thirty years later an Englishman, James Smithson, as though influenced by these words, bequeathed the whole of his property to the United States of America in trust "to found at Washington an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." ... William McKinley (22 June 1897)

This section of our site was established during the 150th birthday celebration of the Smithsonian Institution to demonstrate in a small way how the knowledge about flies continues to be increased and diffused in Washington to fulfill the challange of our first President and the wishes of an Englishman.

Various presentations devoted to the electronic dissemination of information are as follows:

Disseminating Biosystematic Information on the World Wide Web, Jennifer E. Fairman and F. Christian Thompson, 150th Birthday Celebration on the Mall, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, August 10-11, 1996.

Electronic Publishing: Delivering the Goods to the Public, Jennifer E. Fairman and F. Christian Thompson, National Conference of the Entomological Society of America, Louisville, Kentucky, December 11, 1996.

Disseminating Biosystematic Information: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow F. Christian Thompson, XX International Congress of Entomology, Firenze, Italy, 27 August 1996.

About this Web Site: Our vision and how we are working toward achieving it F. Christian Thompson & Jennifer Fairman

HTML: The Internet and the World Wide Web, Jennifer E. Fairman , National Confernece of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC,