Carnegie Institution for Science

The Carnegie Institution for Science is a foundation that was founded in 1902 by Andrew Carnegie. Its name, Carnegie Institution of Washington ( CIW ) was changed in 2007, as only a part of the facilities in Washington, DC is located.

Areas of Practice

Currently, the CIW scientific research supports mainly on six areas at several locations: Plant Biology ( Department of Plant Biology at Stanford University), Developmental Biology ( Department of Embryology in Baltimore), Global Ecology ( Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University), Geosciences and Planetary Sciences and Astronomy ( Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in Washington, DC and at the locations of the observatories of the Institute ). The astronomical projects are operated by the Carnegie Observatories ( OCIW ), a subdivision of the Carnegie Institution for Science, based in Pasadena ( California).

History

Andrew Carnegie agreed to donate ten million dollars for a new Science Institute after his retirement from business life as a philanthropist. He informed U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt about his plan and looked for 27 people for the board of trustees ( a comparable Foundation ) from. The committee met for the first meeting on 29 January 1902. Carnegie Institution itself was formally launched by a founding act of the U.S. Congress on December 7, 1903. The first president of the CIW was Daniel Coit Gilman, founder of Johns Hopkins Medical School.

Astronomy

One of the first major beneficiaries of the foundation was in 1904 George Ellery Hale. The OCIW supported the completion of the 60 - inch Hale telescope on Mount Wilson. 1917 was completed with the support of OCIW the larger (100 - inch) Hooker Telescope. Another important telescope, which were created with the help of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, was the 200 -inch telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The current main observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Las Campanas Observatory is in Chile. The OCIW is also the leading institution in the context of the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

Genetics and Eugenics

In 1920, the Eugenics Record Office in Cold Spring Harbor, New York merged with the Station for Experimental Evolution. The newly formed research unit was as it were the genetics department of the CIW. The laboratory was supported by the CIW to 1939 (closure of the Laboratory 1944). In addition, however, the CIW supports genetic research. Thus, among the famous beneficiaries of the Foundation, for example, the Nobel laureate Barbara McClintock and Alfred Hershey mentioned.

Maya Research

The CIW supported 1910-1940 the archaeological research on the Yucatán Peninsula. These included excavations ( Sylvanus G. Morley headed ) as known Mayan cities such as Chichen Itza and Copan.

Other Carnegie foundations

  • In 1910, Carnegie founded with $ 10 million a foundation under the name Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Significant researcher at the Carnegie Institution of Washington

President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington

  • Daniel Coit Gilman (1902-1904)
  • Robert S. Woodward (1904-1920)
  • John C. Merriam (1921-1938), paleontologist
  • Vannevar Bush (1939-1955)
  • Caryl P. Haskins (1956-1971)
  • Philip Abelson (1971-1978)
  • James D. Ebert (1978-1987)
  • Edward E. David, Jr. ( Acting President, 1987-1988)
  • Maxine F. Singer (1989-2002)
  • Michael E. Gellert ( Acting President, Jan.- April 2003)
  • Richard A. Meserve ( April 2003 - )
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