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Today in Smithsonian History: October 13, 1993

Aerial view of Barro Colorado Island shows the docks with boats tied up to them, and new dormitory facilities for students and visiting scientists. For 70 years, the 3,600-acre island has been one of the leading field stations for research in tropical biology. In 1924 the Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory officially opened in the Panama Canal Zone. More than thirty scientists from the United States worked at the island laboratory during its first year of operation. The laboratory later came under Smithsonian Institution aegis as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. (Photo by Carl Hansen, as featured in Smithsonian Institution Research Reports, Spring 1993)

October 13, 1993 The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama is awarded a three-year $900,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support initiatives in plant ecological research.

The aerial view of Barro Colorado Island shows the docks with boats tied up to them, and new dormitory facilities for students and visiting scientists. For 70 years, the 3,600-acre island has been one of the leading field stations for research in tropical biology. In 1924 the Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory officially opened in the Panama Canal Zone. More than thirty scientists from the United States worked at the island laboratory during its first year of operation. The laboratory later came under Smithsonian Institution aegis as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives

Learn more about Barro Colorado and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute: