Hudson Maxim

Copied Moses Wainer Dykaar, Hudson Maxim, 1921, bronze, 22 1220 1212 12 in. (57.152.031.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 1922.3.1
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Hudson Maxim
Date
1921
Dimensions
22 1220 1212 12 in. (57.152.031.8 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Mediums
Mediums Description
bronze
Classifications
Keywords
  • Occupation — science — inventor
  • Portrait male — Maxim, Hudson — bust
  • Portrait male — Maxim, Hudson — elderly
Object Number
1922.3.1

Artwork Description

Hudson Maxim invented many weapons that influenced modern warfare, including the first smokeless powder made in America and "maximite," the first high explosive able to pierce armor. As a child, he received little schooling and once worked for seventy-five cents to buy his first atlas so that he could "see where Napoleon lived." In 1888 he began experimenting with explosives and a year later built a dynamite factory and smokeless-powder mill in Maxim, New Jersey, a town named for him. Although he developed many forms of "concentrated destruction," Maxim was a firm believer in peaceful arbitration and wrote many books and lectures on the subject.