Topic: Research Institutions
Timeline: American Philanthropy, Agriculture, and the Challenges of Feeding the World
From demonstration farms launched when farming was still unmechanized to confronting climate change in the twenty-first century, American philanthropy has played a key role in shaping and supporting efforts to lift rural communities out of poverty through agriculture.
Building the Hale Telescope
A 20-year-long project, funded by Rockefeller philanthropies, took technologies enabling astronomy to an unprecedented scale.
“For Initiative and for Experiment”: The International Education Board, 1923-1938
Incorporated in 1923 with funding from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the IEB built a major scientific network in Europe and the US in only five years.
The Birth of International Agricultural Research Institutes in the Mid-20th Century
Rockefeller Foundation agriculture programs begun in Mexico achieved global reach through four major research institutes. Building them was the result of partnership.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Role in Creating the Atomic Bomb
In the aftermath, Foundation staff struggled to rectify their organization’s involvement with this weapon of mass destruction.
Philanthropy and Oceanography: An Episode in Field-Building
Funding on levels large and small helped this new area of scientific research grow and evolve.
Funding a Sexual Revolution: The Kinsey Reports
The inside story of the study that first questioned binary sexuality and spurred outcry and controversy.