Online Exhibits Gallery

The Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum maintains numerous exhibits, some physical and others online.  Below is a list of our online exhibits about NIH people, objects, and scientific themes.  For onsite exhibitions and displays, as well as their online component, refer to our Onsite Exhibits page.

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  Christian Anfinsen: Protein Folding and the Nobel Prize

  This exhibition celebrates Christian Anfinsen's legacy by illuminating just a few of his contributions to science and society.

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  Michael Potter: The Work of Michael Potter

  To Potter, science was driven by curiosity, not competition, and the only goal was to answer questions about the nature of life.

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  Marshall Nirenberg: Deciphering the Genetic Code

  This exhibit explores the Nobel Prize-winning work of NHLBI's Marshall Nirenberg, who deciphered the genetic code in the early 1960s with the collaboration of his NIH colleagues.

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  The Stadtman Way: A Tale of Two Biochemists at NIH

  Accomplished biochemists and beloved mentors, Thressa and Earl Stadtman have worked at NIH for more than half a century.

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  Santiago Ramón y Cajal: The Beginnings of Modern Neuroscience

  Santiago Ramón y Cajal was the first to describe the nervous system, including neurons, in exquisite detail.  His original drawings, as well as information about current NIH neuroscience, are on exhibit in NIH Building 35, the Porter Neuroscience Center.

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   Howard Bartner & 40 Years of Medical Illustration

  Howard Bartner, an NIH medical illustrator, devoted 40 years to portraying human anatomy in his drawings.

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  Roscoe Brady & Gaucher Disease

  How medical researchers study diseases, by answering three basic questions. Focuses on Dr. Roscoe Brady's team at NINDS and their work with Gaucher disease.

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  Charles Darwin: Rewriting the Book of Nature

  Formally titled “Rewriting the Book of Nature: Charles Darwin and the Rise of Evolutionary Theory,” the exhibit describes the Charles Darwin’s life and the fortunes of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

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  Joseph Goldberger & the War on Pellagra

  Dr. Joseph Goldberger discovered of 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.

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  Martin Rodbell: How Cells Respond to Signals

  Martin Rodbell and his colleagues discovered a mechanism that transformed our understanding of how cells respond to signals. In a series of pioneering experiments conducted at the NIH, Rodbell studied hormones--substances which have specific effects on cells' activity. He won the 1994 Nobel Prize for this work.

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  The AMINCO-Bowman Spectrophotofluorometer

  In the 1950s, the NIH's Dr. Robert Bowman developed a sensitive instrument called the spectrophotofluorometer, or “SPF”, that allowed scientists to use fluorescence as a way to identify and measure tiny amounts of substances in the body.  This exhibit explores the instrument and its use in scientific studies ranging from anti-depressant medication to AIDS research and the Human Genome Project.

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  A Thin Blue Line: The History of the Pregnancy Test Kit

  This looks at the history of the home pregnancy test and examines its place in our culture. Research that led to a sensitive, accurate pregnancy test was done by scientists in the Reproductive Research Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health.

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  Drugs as Opiates, Drugs as Research Tools: Synthetic Opiates & Opioids

  This exhibit tells how 20th century researchers at the National Institutes of Health created new opiate drugs and developed a synthetic source for morphine and codeine -- and why.

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  Innovation and Invention: NIH and Prosthetic Heart Valves

  This exhibition describes the discoveries that led to the heart-lung machine and open heart surgery, the number of experimental replacement valves that were invented and implanted, the role that NIH played in the 1960s and 70s in developing and testing these medical devices, and the public safety and regulatory responsibilities that were entrusted to the FDA.

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