The Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to encourage investigation, research and discovery "in the broadest and most liberal manner." Under its first president, Daniel C. Gilman the institution mostly awarded individual grants in various fields. The Institution's second president (from 1904 through 1920) was Robert S. Woodward, a physicist and mathematician, who had been a dean of the faculty of pure science at Columbia University. Woodward changed the course, deciding to focus on supporting departments of research within the institution. This approach successfully allowed the Institution to support groups of researchers in related areas over many years.
