Exhibits Overview

How are proteins made? How do they fold, and what role does structure play in their function? Chris Anfinsen's investigations answered these questions; they also led to a Nobel Prize.

Building 10

Michael Potter investigated the twin questions of what causes cancer and how we produce the antibodies called immunoglobulins which protect us from disease.

Building 10

Explore the Nobel Prize-winning work of Marshall Nirenberg, who deciphered the genetic code with the help of NIH colleagues, enabling genetics to become a central scientific field.

Building 10

The scientific power couple of Thressa and Earl Stadtman developed a unique way to train scientists; they each made significant scientific contributions too.

Building 10

Learn about the first person to describe the nervous system, including intricate neurons, in exquisite and artistic detail was Santiago Ramón y Cajal.

Building 35

Ruth Kirschstein was a rigorous scientist, generous mentor, talented administrator, and the first female institute director at the NIH.

Building 40

Dr. Joseph Goldberger discovered the cause of pellagra, a disease that killed many poor Southerners in the early part of the 20th century.  His finding that pellagra was caused by a diet deficient in vitamin B was met by political and social resistance.

Building 1

Who would think that coloring books would provide a glimpse at nearly 40 years of Clinical Center history, each reflecting changing times and telling their own stories about the people who created them?

Building 10

Because employees designed these patches, they reveal how people thought about their work at the Clinical Center—sometimes as a heroic struggle and sometimes with humor.

Building 10, 1st floor, near the hospitality desk.

See photo albums from the 1948 Open House at NIH, which helped explain the Clinical Center concept to the public, and President Harry Truman's laying of the hospital's cornerstone in 1951.

Building 10

Learn about the scientists behind their microscopes and the vast array of microscopes used at the NIH.

Building 10

NIH's first supercomputer, the Cray X-MP/22, was the world's fastest supercomputer from 1983-1986 and the first one devoted solely to biomedical research. Both the physical and virtual exhibits are under development, but you can still see the Cray at its exhibit site located in Building 50.

Building 31

All sorts of viruses were visualized for the first time on this Siemens 1-A Electron Microscope used by Albert Kapikian.

Building 50

The Varian A-60 NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrometer was the first low-cost instrument of its kind. It produced a magnetic resonance image (MRI) that NIH scientists used to study topics such as how the brain develops as children grow.

Building 50

Learn about cutting-edge research, funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, in a historical context. 

Building 31