Battelle Celebrates Nation's Innovation Legacy Through Smithsonian American Art Museum Exhibition Sponsorship

COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwire - Jul 14, 2011) - Battelle, the world's largest independent research and development organization, is sponsoring a six-month exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum entitled The Great American Hall of Wonders. The show, which is on view from July 15, 2011 to Jan. 8, 2012, is a celebration of the uniquely American spirit of innovation and it investigates questions that are still critical today.

Americans invented many important, world changing new items in the 19^th century. It was this historic, supercharged, innovative time in the United States that gave rise to the ambitions of Battelle's founder Gordon Battelle (1883 - 1923), who took up the mantle of using science and technology to help mankind and established a private, nonprofit trust -- one of the first contract R&D businesses in America. Today, Battelle operates on the notion of American innovative genius and delivers science in the interest of mankind.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibition embodies Battelle's belief in the importance of innovation to advance our society. It features 161 objects, including paintings and drawings by pre-eminent artists, including Thomas Eakins, Samuel F.B. Morse and Charles Willson Peale, as well as sculptures, prints, survey photographs, zoological and botanical illustrations, patent models and engineering diagrams.

"The exhibition illustrates the roots of Battelle's technological ancestry and illuminates the beginnings of America's transformation from a primarily agricultural nation to the science and technology giant it has become," said Drew Willison, Vice President of Public Policy and External Relations, who runs Battelle's Washington, D.C., office. "We are proud to be associated with it and the Smithsonian American Art Museum."

A link for the exhibition can be found at http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2011/wonders/

As the world's largest independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world's most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management; National Security; Health and Life Sciences; and Energy, Environment and Material Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $6.5 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom.

Battelle also is one of the nation's leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

For more information contact Katy Delaney at (614) 424-7208 or delaneyk@battelle.org, or T.R. Massey at (614) 424-5544 or masseytr@battelle.org.