Interactive Historical Vignettes (IHVs) can serve as introductions to scientific content, pique students' interest, and reveal the nature of science to students (Clary and Wandersee 2006). Additionally, pivotal episodes in the life of a scientist can reveal the humanness of science, and the cultural and societal constraints in which the scientist worked. In 1815, William Smith unveiled the first geologic map of a country, based on the principle of fossil succession. Smith recognized that distinctive fossils, occurring in a regular order, could correlate rock units over large distances. Fossil succession is still used today in exploration for natural resources, documentation of evolutionary trends, and investigations into the paleoenvironments our planet once hosted. The author encourages teachers to incorporate the William Smith Interactive Historical Vignettes (IHV) to celebrate his mapping bicentennial and then extend IHV use to other key scientific topics in the classroom.