NIH Logo

The NIH Almanac - Historical Data

Photo Gallery

President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the new NIH campus in Bethesda on October 31, 1940. This event was held to celebrate NIH's historic move from one building in Washington, D.C. to its new campus setting in Maryland on 45 acres of land donated by Luke and Helen Wilson.

On June 22, 1951, President Harry S Truman applied the first trowel of mortar to the NIH Clinical Center cornerstone. To symbolize advances in clinical medicine at the time, the cornerstone included samples of therapeutic aids, drugs, and techniques and devices to represent diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease.

President Lyndon B. Johnson stepping off helicopter onto the lawn of the NIH Clinical Center, August 9, 1965. He is being greeted by PHS Surgeon General William H. Stewart, NIH Director Dr. James Shannon, and Dr. Jack Masur, Clinical Center Director.

President Johnson with PHS Surgeon General William H. Stewart and NIH Director Dr. James Shannon arrived at the NIH on August 9, 1965, to sign into law an extension of the Research Facilities Construction Program. In his remarks, President Johnson noted that "Here on this quiet battleground our Nation today leads a worldwide war on disease."

Dr. Theodore Cooper, President Gerald Ford, and Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson listening to HEW Secretary Casper Weinberger speak at the July 1, 1975, swearing in ceremonies of Dr. Cooper as the HEW Assistant Secretary for Health, and Dr. Fredrickson as Director of the NIH.

President Gerald Ford speaking at the July 1, 1975, ceremony swearing in Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson as NIH Director. In his speech, President Ford says of the NIH "Through your accomplishments, NIH has become a symbol of hope, not just for the patients who are here in this or the other buildings, but all people, everywhere."

President Gerald Ford observes Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson taking his oath of office as Director of the National Institutes of Health on July 1, 1975. HEW Secretary Casper Weinberger administers the oath as Mrs. Fredrickson holds the family Bible.

President Gerald Ford shakes hands with NIH staff, patients, and guests at the Clinical Center. He was on hand to observe the swearing in of Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson as the Director of the NIH, July 1, 1975.

First Lady Rosalyn Carter, and Mrs. James Callaghan, wife of the British Prime Minister, are shown speaking with a patient in the Clinical Center's Laminar Flow Room facilities. Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Callaghan visited the Clinical Center on March 11, 1977.

On March 11, 1977, First Lady Rosalyn Carter, and Mrs. James Callaghan, wife of the British Prime Minister, visited the NIH campus and met with NIH Director Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson for a tour of the Clinical Center.

On July 23, 1987 President Ronald Reagan visited the NIH Clinical Center to announce his 13-member Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic. HHS Secretary Otis R. Bowen and President Ronald Reagan listen as NIH Director James B. Wyngaarden briefed the president on the NIH's efforts in fighting AIDS.

HHS Secretary Otis R. Bowen and NIH Director James B. Wyngaarden greet President Ronald Reagan during his July 23, 1987 visit to the NIH Clinical Center. President Reagan visited the NIH to announce his 13-member Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic.

President Ronald Reagan, HHS Secretary Otis R. Bowen, Dr. James B. Wyngaarden and members of the Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic. In his remarks, the president said, "I hope the commission will help us all put aside our suspicions and work together with common sense against this threat."

President Bill Clinton speaking with HHS Secretary Donna Shalala and NIH Director Dr. Harold Varmus after the cornerstone dedication ceremony for the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center on June 9, 1999.

Mrs. Betty Bumpers, President Bill Clinton, and Sen. Dale Bumpers during the cornerstone dedication ceremony for the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center on June 9, 1999. In his speech, President Clinton praised the Bumpers by saying "It is entirely fitting that today we dedicate this state-of-the-art facility to them. They are two great Americans."

On June 9, 1999, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, President Bill Clinton, Arkansas Sen. Dale Bumpers, and Mrs. Betty Bumpers unveil the cornerstone to the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center. President Clinton called the NIH "one of America's great citadels of hope, not only for our people, but also for the world."

President George W. Bush tours the Vaccine Research Center on February 2, 2003. He is accompanied by (from left) NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge.

President George W. Bush delivers an address on Project BioShield to a full audience at Natcher Auditorium during his visit to NIH on February 3, 2003.

President George W. Bush visits NIH on May 12, 2004 and participates in a panel discussion about reading education and development. Touting his No Child Left Behind legislation and its Reading First initiative, President Bush talks with other panel members, including G. Reid Lyon (l) of NICHD and Alabama kindergarten teacher Cynthia Henderson (r).

President George W. Bush visited NIH on November 1, 2005 to announce the government's pandemic influenza preparations and response. At a Natcher Bldg. address of just under half an hour, he outlined a $7.1 billion plan to meet the threat of avian flu. Bush credited NIH for more than a century of work "at the forefront of this country's efforts to prevent, detect and treat disease, and I appreciate the good work you're doing here. This is an important facility, an important complex, and the people who work here are really important to the security of this nation."

President George W. Bush visits NIH on January 26, 2005 to hold a 40-minute town hall meeting in Masur auditorium called strengthening health care. Greeting him in the lobby of the Clinical Research Center is: NIH director Dr. Elias Zerhouni joined by NCI director Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach (l) and Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.

On January 17, 2007, President George W. Bush makes his fifth visit to the NIH campus during his presidency. In his tour of a cancer research laboratory and a roundtable discussion, the president learned about the Cancer Genome Atlas project and other NIH-funded research efforts.

Campus Photos

Building 1, the "Shannon Building," serves as NIH headquarters in the heart of the campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

Building 10, the "Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center," has served as the nation's clinical research hospital since 1953.

The Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center opened in 2005. The facility houses inpatient units, day hospitals, and research labs and connects to the original Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center. Together, the Magnuson and Hatfield buildings form the NIH Clinical Center. The Clinical Center provides patient care and the environment clinical researchers need to advance clinical science. It was named in honor of Senator Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon, who supported medical research throughout his congressional career.

The Children's Inn at NIH provides pediatric patients and their families a place to stay during treatment at the Clinical Center.

The Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge at NIH is the temporary residence for families and loved ones of adult patients receiving care at the Clinical Center.

Building 16, the "Lawton Chiles International House," is a locus for international activities supported by NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The C.W. Bill Young Center (Building 33) is a new laboratory complex constructed for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to expand its research programs for developing new and improved diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments for emerging diseases caused by infectious agents that may occur naturally or be deliberately released into civilian populations.

Buildings 38 (and 38A—shown in the background) house the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest collection of medical literature, and the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, the research component of the NLM.

Building 40, the "Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center," was established to facilitate research in vaccine development.

Building 45, the "William H. Natcher Building," is the gateway to the NIH campus. It houses a 1,000-seat auditorium, nine conference rooms, a spacious cafeteria, and underground parking for visitors.

Building 50, "The Louis Stokes Laboratories," provides 250,000 GSF of state-of-the-art laboratory, office and conference facilities for scientists from nine NIH Institutes.

This view of the NIH campus looks north past the Natcher Building (right) to the Stokes Labs (center) and beyond to the Clinical Center (upper left). Building 31, the "Claude D. Pepper Building," (upper right) provides office space for most Institute directors and their immediate staff.

This view of the NIH campus looks south beyond the Stokes Labs and Natcher Building (center) to the reflective façade of the National Library of Medicine (upper right).

Historical Photos of Scientists

The NIH began in 1887 as a one-room Hygienic Laboratory in this Marine Hospital on Staten Island, New York. The Hygienic Laboratory was located here until 1891, when it was moved to Washington, D.C.

This is a photograph of a PHS research laboratory, circa 1899. The staff is shown at workstations with microscopes and laboratory glassware.

In 1910, U.S. Public Health Service workers prepared poisons to be used for the extermination of plague-carrying rats.

In 1910, researchers worked at a U.S. Public Health Service laboratory equipped with a bunsen burner, microscope, and petri dishes.

In 1916, Dr. Ida A. Bengston became the first woman on the professional staff at the U.S. Public Health Service Hygienic Laboratory. Dr. Bengston worked on ways of developing vaccines for spotted fever.

In 1929, field laboratory technicians for the Rocky Mountain Laboratory collected research specimens from the north side of Blodgett canyon, Montana.

A 1937 NIH laboratory technician surrounded by tools of the trade; a rack of cotton-stoppered test tubes, a microscope and various glass jars.

In 1939, laboratory technicians performed tick research at a field laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. The laboratory was equipped with a refrigerator, an autoclave, and a wood-burning stove.

In 1946, researchers work at a field laboratory set up in the basement of the Kew Gardens apartments in New York City.

In 1953, NIH scientists were seeking the cause of the hypersensitivity that develops during a 10-21 day lapse after infection before the onset of rheumatic fever or nephritis.

In 1954, NIH researchers were studying weight and blood changes in rats with folic acid deficiency.

In 1975, NIH’s central computer facility housed computers to aid in the collection, analysis and display of data from laboratory instruments, such as this mass spectrometer.

Dr. Martin Rodbell, former scientific director of NIEHS, won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Photo courtesy of Andrew M. Rodbell.

Former NIEHS Director Kenneth Olden (l) with senior members of the NIEHS component of the team that identified the first breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA1. Also pictured (left to right) are Dr. J. Carl Barrett, Dr. Roger W. Wiseman, and Dr. Andrew Futreal. Photo by Steven R. McCaw.

2007 Photos

NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni (seated left) and Dr. Maharaj K. Bhan, secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, India (seated right) sign the Statement of Intent for the Indo-U.S. Collaboration on Expansion of Vision Research, August 24, 2005. The signing took place at the Lawton Chiles International House on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Looking on are Tina Chung of NIH’s John E. Fogarty International Center (left) and Dr. Kamal K. Dwivedi, counsellor for science and technology, Embassy of India (right).

NHLBI Director Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel speaks at the January 2007 launch of the NHLBI’s Learn More Breathe Better campaign to raise awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Photo courtesy of NHLBI.

At a November 2007 news conference, Ivonne Borrero, mother of 2, describes how the We Can! parents’ program has helped her family learn to eat healthier and be more physically active. We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition) is a science-based national education program developed by NHLBI to help children ages 8 to 13 stay at a healthy weight by improving food choices, increasing physical activity, and reducing recreational screen time. The news conference announced the expansion of We Can! through a partnership with the Association of Children’s Museums. Additional speakers (pictured, left to right) included Dr. Elias Zerhouni, NIH Director; Dr. Steven K. Galson, Acting U.S. Surgeon General; Lou Casagrande, president and CEO of Boston Children’s Museum, which hosted the event. Photo by Les Veilleux Photography.

Dr. Boris Tabakoff (right), professor and chairman in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, accepts the 2007 Mark Keller Honorary Award from NIAAA Director Dr. T.-K. Li.
Photo by Bill Branson, NIH Medical Arts and Photography Branch.


NIAID Director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci receives the 2007 Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service. The award recognized Dr. Fauci’s role in developing two major U.S. public health programs, in AIDS and biodefense.

Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Paul Farmer focused on community-based care for chronic infectious disease when he delivered the 2007 James C. Hill Memorial Lecture, presented in April 2007 on the NIH campus. The Hill lecture honors the memory of the former NIAID deputy director, who helped build the Institute’s HIV/AIDS research program during the early years of the epidemic.

In September 2007, NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni and NASA Administrator Dr. Michael D. Griffin signed an agreement making U.S. resources on the International Space Station available for NIH-funded research. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (l), Sen. Barbara Mikulski, and NIAMS Director Dr. Steve Katz witnessed the occasion.

At NIBIB’s 5th Anniversary Symposium, held in June 2007, NIBIB Director Dr. Roderic Pettigrew (l) chatted with special guest speaker Dr. Charles Townes, recipient of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the laser.

In June 2007, NIBIB Director Dr. Roderic Pettigrew (l) presented the first NIBIB Landmark Achievement Award to M. Joan Dawson, wife of the late Dr. Paul Lauterbur. As a 2003 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Dr. Lauterbur was recognized for his pioneering contributions to the development of magnetic resonance imaging.

At a meeting in New Delhi, Dr. Maharaj Bhan (l), Secretary of the Republic of India’s Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science, shakes hands with NIBIB Director Dr. Roderic Pettigrew following the signing of a bilateral agreement in 2007. Witnessing the occasion (left to right) were Steven White, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy, New Delhi; Elias Zerhouni, NIH Director; Kapil Sibal, Science Minister; T.S. Rao, Medical Biotechnology Group Leader; and Roger Glass, Director of NIH’s Fogarty International Center.

The cover of the NIDA's first plain language booklet explaining the science behind addiction—Drugs, Brains & Behavior - The Science of Addiction.

During NIDA’s first national "Drug Facts Chat Day," more than 40 scientists and science writers who specialize in addiction issues answered over 36,000 questions submitted online by high school students across the country. The students asked wide-ranging questions on drug abuse-related topics, and experts tried to answer them as soon as possible.

NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow was among the experts who assisted during the chat day’s 10-hour question-and-answer session. The scientists and writers sometimes fielded as many as 6,000 questions per hour.

NIDA staffers David Anderson, Dr. Ruben Baler, and Dr. Barry Hoffer answered students’ questions about how drugs affect the brain during NIDA’s Drug Facts Chat Day.

Panoramic photograph of the main NIEHS building in Research Triangle Park, NC. Photo by Steven R. McCaw.

NIEHS Acting Director Samuel Wilson strategizes with Acting Deputy Director William Suk at "Superfund Basic Research Program: 20 Years of Success and a Vision for the Future," held December 3-5, 2007, in Durham, NC. Photo credit Steven R. McCaw.

This model of the enzyme nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase is one of more than 2,000 protein structures solved as part of NIGMS’s Protein Structure Initiative. Although the enzyme is from a bacterium, its amino acid sequence suggests that it is structurally similar to a clinically important human protein called B-cell colony enhancing factor. Image courtesy of Berkeley Structural Genomics Center.

NINR Director Dr. Patricia A. Grady, speaking at the Institute’s 20th Anniversary Symposium.

NINR Director Dr. Patricia A. Grady (seated, third from right) with the 2007 National Advisory Council for Nursing Research.

On October 22, 2007, NIH’s Fogarty International Center and National Library of Medicine co-sponsored the launch of the Council of Science Editor's global theme issue on poverty and human development. The event coincided with the publication of related research by more than 230 journals worldwide. Researchers gathered from around the world to present scientific discoveries published as part of the theme issue.

Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass (center) accompanied U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt (left) on a visit to Africa in August 2007. They met with local officials and observed U.S. government programs that are delivering health care to underserved communities.

Participants discuss issues related to NCCAM and complementary and alternative medicine at an “NCCAM Stakeholder Dialogue” meeting, held at NIH in June 2007.

Dr. Nasser Altorki, director of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, confers with a colleague about a CT scan of a patient’s chest. Weill Cornell Medical College became a member of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) consortium in October 2007. The CTSA Program—led by NCRR—is designed to speed discoveries from the laboratory to clinical practice. (Photo courtesy of Weill Cornell Medical College)

The sequencing of the rhesus macaque genome—funded by NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute—was performed at the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center in Houston, Texas; the Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri; and the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland. This effort was supported by several NCRR-funded National Primate Research Centers. (Photo by Randall C. Kyes / University of Washington)

Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science received a $2 million High-End Instrumentation (HEI) grant from NCRR to support the purchase of a 7-tesla human magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy system. It provides the highest magnetic imaging available for humans and is one of only several such instruments in the country. (Photo by Dana Johnson, courtesy of Vanderbilt University Medical Center)

Physicians, scientists, and engineers at Rhode Island Hospital and The Warren Albert Medical School of Brown University are establishing a multidisciplinary Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Skeletal Health and Repair to develop treatment strategies for bone and joint diseases such as osteoarthritis. The Center is funded by NCRR’s Institutional Development (IDeA) Program, which builds capacity in underserved states. Pictured is Dr. Qian Chen, director of the Center at Rhode Island Hospital. (Photo courtesy of Lifespan/Robin Dunn Blossom)

This page was last reviewed on June 12, 2008 .
skip main navigation National Institutes of Health - Transforming Health Through Discovery U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Information Page NIH Grants News and Events Research Institutes and Centers About NIH