On Wednesday, the Smithsonian Institution announced that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is donating the biggest sum of money to the institution since James Smithson willed the money to found it in the 19th century. Part of the funds—$70 million—will go to renovating the National Air and Space Museum, while $130 million will finance the creation of a totally new education center for science, tech, engineering, arts, and math, to be called the Bezos Learning Center. It will be built on the east side of the museum.
Bezos is a regular Smithsonian donor, having contributed previously to the Air and Space Museum and supported the founding of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In recent years, he’s become more enmeshed in Washington life: In 2013, he bought the Washington Post and, in 2018, he named Crystal City the site for Amazon’s HQ2. He has a couple of places in Kalorama, too.
Rosa is a senior editor at Bitch Magazine. She’s written for Washingtonian and Smithsonian magazine.
