U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | National Institutes of Health
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.
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.
This exhibit places some examples of cutting-edge research, funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, in historical context. The virtual exhibit is under construction but you can visit the NIBIB Emerging Technology Exhibit in person in Building 31.
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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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.
This Siemens 1-A Electron Microscope was used for over three decades by Dr. Albert Kapikian, NIAID. The instrument was used to detect and characterize various viruses.
This exhibition describes the Varian A-60 NMR
This snapshot of some of the computing tools used in NIH labs highlights objects that are now in the NIH Stetten Museum collection.
A cross section of precision instruments used at NIH between 1945 and 1965 is presented.
This type of balance is designed on a “seesaw” principle to measure mass precisely by placing a sample in one pan and a known weight in an opposing pan until an equilibrium was established.
The story of one of the first supercomputers from its conception in MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, through its use in biomedical research laboratories.
