Research institute

A research institute is an establishment endowed for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies scientific research, there are also many research institutes in the social sciences as well, especially for sociological and historical research purposes such as the Institute of Historical Research. Some research institutes are associated with public education museums such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Famous research institutes

In the early medieval period, several astronomical observatories were built in the Islamic world. The first of these was the 9th-century Baghdad observatory built during the time of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun, though the most famous were the 13th-century Maragheh observatory, 15th-century Ulugh Beg Observatory.E. S. Kennedy (1962), by Aydin Sayili", Isis '53 (2): 237-239.

The earliest research institute in Europe was Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg complex on the island of Hven, a 16th-century astronomical laboratory set up to make highly-accurate measurements of the stars. In the United States there are numerous notable research institutes including Bell Labs, The Scripps Research Institute and SRI International.

Research institutes in early modern Europe

From the throes of the Scientific Revolution came the 17th century scientific academy. In France Louis XIV...
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