Salk Institute for Biological Studies

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one in La Jolla, a suburb of San Diego in California and geographically research facility. It was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine. He wanted to create a facility where the best minds can live and work in an environment that allows a complete focus on the research tasks and cooperation between the various disciplines and promotes to help with the goal of man. The research focus today lies in three areas: molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience and plant biology. The Institute is in research rankings regular U.S. and world top places, it was listed in 2009 by Science Watch in the neurosciences and behavioral sciences as a world class body.

After Salk was made ​​famous by the development of the polio vaccine, he managed to get the support of the March of Dimes campaign that provided the financial resources for the realization of his vision of a research institute. The Torrey Pines Mesa on the Pacific coast north of San Diego saw Salk has long been considered a particularly suitable place for it and asked in 1960, the city of San Diego aim is to give the land to the research institute. After a referendum in June 1960, he received the land and made off with the architect Louis Kahn in mind to design a building that corresponded to their two notions of optimal levels of research and work environment. In 1962, the construction of the building and the first researchers recruited in 1963 in the first completed a laboratory.

Plant

The Kahn designed in close cooperation with the concrete experts and structural engineer August E. Komendant system should have a campus structure and attract by its attractive location and design of the best researchers in the world. It consists of two wings, which are grouped around a central courtyard. In you are housed labs and offices, they are preceded by small rooms that serve the reflection and contemplation - all of them are designed so that they provide a view of the Pacific. The buildings are made ​​entirely of concrete, windows, doors and screens from untreated mahogany wood. In the simple and stringent design of the buildings, the strict symmetry of the system and extending centrally gully, the Court seems almost sacred; but actually it is to serve primarily the meeting of researchers who meet here most of the year outdoors and can discuss their research. Show more walls to the courtyard attached panels that these opportunities of meeting and working together are widely used.

The plant was in 1992 awarded the Twenty -five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects.

Researcher

Two of the currently at the Institute research-based faculty members are Nobel Prize winners:

• Sydney Brenner
• Roger Guillemin

Among the researchers who worked here Francis Crick heard.

NIPS

The Salk Institute is also the seat of NIPS ( Neural Information Processing shorthand for the system), a nonprofit foundation, which organizes the annual NIPS conferences.