Our History
Division Histories
History Features
Edwin Hubble - VAR! Plate 100th Anniversary
There's a New Call Box in Town
The wind behind the sails of evolution | Nina Fedoroff on Barbara McClintock
Nina Fedoroff: How Barbara McClintock inspired me
A History of Carnegie's Broad Branch Road Campus
Pluto before Pluto
Edwin Hubble - VAR! Plate 100th Anniversary
There's a New Call Box in Town
The wind behind the sails of evolution | Nina Fedoroff on Barbara McClintock
Nina Fedoroff: How Barbara McClintock inspired me
A History of Carnegie's Broad Branch Road Campus
Pluto before Pluto
In 1902, an exciting new research venture took shape. Industrialist-turned-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie founded a new approach to investigation, research, and discovery.
The Carnegie Science Observatories have shaped the history of astronomy over the last 120 years—and it all started with George Ellery Hale’s vision.
Spotlighting the women of Mount Wilson Observatory's Computing Division, who worked meticulously reducing and analyzing data from astronomical glass plates.
This Women’s History Month, we highlight the lives of three women who, despite barriers, contributed to the work of Carnegie’s Desert Laboratory.
Nettie Stevens's revolutionary report offered definitive evidence demonstrating that the X and Y chromosomes were associated with sex determination.
While a respected area of geoscience research today, experimental petrology was largely unappreciated until the 1940s.
Louis Bauer, DTM’s founding Director, was an eclipse veteran. In May 1900, four years before the Department was established, Bauer organized the first systematic observations aimed at detecting geomagnetic effects of a solar eclipse.
In 1940, as World War II engulfed Europe and Asia, Carnegie scientists began work on a secret weapon that would revolutionize warfare and contribute significantly to the Allied victory in 1945——the proximity fuze.
In this report, Bush argued that scientific research is vital for the country’s continued economic well-being and security and proposed a centralized approach to government-sponsored science.
When Barbara McClintock joined Carnegie Science it was a perfect match: a scientist who craved independence found an institution dedicated to supporting unfettered research. McClintock's groundbreaking discovery of "jumping genes" revolutionized our understanding of heredity and earned her a Nobel Prize.
Esteemed scientist and Carnegie alumna Nina Fedoroff talks about her late colleague Barbara McClintock's groundbreaking work on jumping genes.
In 1965, Vera Rubin wasn’t just watching history unfold; she was making it—pioneering our understanding of the universe while shattering barriers for women in science.
Vera Rubin provided the first observational evidence that supported of the existence of dark matter—the invisible material that makes up more than 80 percent of the mass of the universe.
Documentary Heritage
The Carnegie Science Archives
We maintain extensive physical and digital collections that document our institutional history. Learn about our archival resources, conduct research with our documentary heritage, or arrange a visit to one of our historic campuses.
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Publications
Since our founding, Carnegie Science has published an annual Year Book highlighting research from across the institution. The Carnegie Monograph series, composed of more than 600 volumes, was published until 1994.
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