Joseph Henry was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. He also served as president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1868 to 1878.
- Occupation
- physicist, university teacher, engineer, meteorologist
- Position held
- Secretary of the Smithsonian
- Citizenship
- United States
- Born
- December 17, 1797
- Died
- May 13, 1878
