Andrew Carnegie was an industrialist and philanthropist who was born in Scotland in 1835. He grew up in the United States where by 1889 he was the owner of the Carnegie Steel Corporation. His corporation became the largest of its kind in the world.
In 1901 Carnegie sold his business and devoted his time to philanthropic activities. One of those activities was supporting the establishment of libraries. Over 2,500 ‘Carnegie’ libraries established with the aid of Carnegie grants in the United States, Britain, Canada, Ireland and other English-speaking countries.
Together with his support for libraries Carnegie established six other large charitable foundations. The foundations provided support for various areas including, universities, theatres, child welfare centres and scientific research including the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The Institution was established to ‘encourage investigation, research, and discovery [and] show the application of knowledge to the improvement of mankind’
The Carnegie Institution of Washington (Carnegie Institution for Science) was founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie in the year 1902 On This Day.
Carnegie Institution of Washington