National Institute

National Institute may refer to:

See also

Centre Georges Pompidou

Centre Georges Pompidou (French pronunciation: ​[sɑ̃tʁ ʒɔʁʒ pɔ̃pidu]; commonly shortened to Centre Pompidou; also known as the Pompidou Centre in English) is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, along with Gianfranco Franchini.

It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library), a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg (IPA: [bobuʁ]). It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. As of 2006, the Centre Pompidou has had over 180 million visitors since 1977 and more than 5,209,678 visitors in 2013, including 3,746,899 for the museum.

Salk Institute for Biological Studies

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is an independent, non-profit, scientific research institute located in La Jolla, California. It was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among the founding consultants were Jacob Bronowski and Francis Crick. Building did not start until spring of 1962. The institute consistently ranks among the top institutions in the US in terms of research output and quality in the life sciences. In 2004, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked Salk as the world's top biomedicine research institute, and in 2009 it was ranked number one globally by ScienceWatch in the neuroscience and behavior areas.

The institute employs 850 researchers in 60 research groups and focuses its research in three areas: molecular biology and genetics; neurosciences; and plant biology. Research topics include cancer, diabetes, birth defects, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, AIDS, and the neurobiology of American Sign Language. The March of Dimes provided the initial funding and continues to support the institute. Current research is funded by a variety of organizations, such as the NIH, the HHMI and private organizations such as Paris-based Ipsen and the Waitt Family Foundation. In addition, the internally administered Innovation Grants Program encourages cutting-edge high-risk research. The institute appointed genome biologist Eric Lander and stem cell biologist Irving Weissman as non-resident fellows in November 2009.

Opera house

An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building. While some venues are constructed specifically for operas, other opera houses are part of larger performing arts centers.

History

The first public opera house came into existence in 1637 as the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice, Italy, in a country where opera has been popular through the centuries among ordinary people as well as wealthy patrons; it still has a large number of working opera houses. In contrast, there was no opera house in London when Henry Purcell was composing and the first opera house in Germany was built in Hamburg in 1678. Early United States opera houses served a variety of functions in towns and cities, hosting community dances, fairs, plays, and vaudeville shows as well as operas and other musical events.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, opera houses were often financed by rulers, nobles, and wealthy people who used patronage of the arts to endorse their political ambitions and social positions or prestige. With the rise of bourgeois and capitalist social forms in the 19th century, European culture moved away from its patronage system to a publicly supported system. In the 2000s, most opera and theatre companies raise funds from a combination of government and institutional grants, ticket sales, and private donations.

Halden Prison

Halden Prison (Norwegian: Halden fengsel) is a maximum-security prison in Halden, Norway. Established in 2010, it was created with a focus on rehabilitation that is reflected in its design. Its design is projected to help inmates reintegrate into society easily by simulating life outside the prison. With the same purpose, there are several activities available to the prisoners that vary from sports to music. Also, they are stimulated to interact with the non-armed staff to create a sense of community. Praised for its humane conditions, design and architecture, it has also received criticism from the Norwegian Progress Party.

Overview

Located in Halden, Østfold, Norway, Halden Prison was built with 1.5 billion Norwegian kroner (US$177 million/£114 million) and was constructed over 10 years. The prison received its first inmates on March 1, 2010 but was officially opened on April 8 by the Norwegian King Harald V. With a capacity of 248–252 prisoners and a site of 75 acres (30 ha), it is the second largest prison in Norway.