National Academies of Science and Engineering: AlbinoFlea's Pics and Story (4/10)

Charles Darwin, one of 8 panels on the Academy doors.

From http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ABOUT_building_doors:

The building's central entrance on Constitution Avenue, focal point of the facade, adheres to the Greek style. Massive bronze sliding doors are Lee Lawrie's masterwork for the building. Lawrie (1877-1963) has been called the dean of American architectural sculptors. Many of his finest works were done in collaboration with Goodhue, with whom he was philosophically attuned in believing that sculpture should be integral to the architecture of a building and not merely applied as decoration. "The history, lore, and contemporary role of science" was the theme chosen by Goodhue for all the decorative elements found in the Academy building. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Lawrie's magnificently embossed doors with their eight panels in low relief, each depicting a major figure in science from Aristotle to Pasteur.