Topic: Biology

1930s 1940s 1950s 1980s 1990s

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Birth of Molecular Biology

A new program in the natural sciences increased funding and attention to the life sciences, and coined a new term along the way.

A grayscale photograph showing 25-kilogram sacks of corn seeds lined up in neat rows. Partial view of stacked sacks of corn and Chevrolet trucks from the '60s visible in the background.
1940s 1950s 1960s

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Mexican Agriculture Program, 1943-1965

The Rockefeller Foundation’s first intensive agriculture endeavor is now credited with launching the global transformation known as the “Green Revolution.”

1920s 1930s

Philanthropy and Oceanography: An Episode in Field-Building

Funding on levels large and small helped this new area of scientific research grow and evolve.

1940s 1950s

Funding a Sexual Revolution: The Kinsey Reports

The inside story of the study that first questioned binary sexuality and spurred outcry and controversy.