![[photo, Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St., Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/museums/bcity/images/1198-1-1380.jpg)
The Maryland Academy of Sciences, forerunner of the Maryland Science Center, formed in Baltimore in 1797, making it one of the oldest science institutions in the country.
Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St., Baltimore, Maryland, June 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
![[photo, Peale Museum and Kurt L. Schmoke Conference Center, 225 North Holliday St., Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/36loc/bcity/images/1198-1-3195.jpg)
Opened in 1814, the Peale Museum, in Baltimore, was the first museum building in the nation. Under Rembrandt Peale, the museum exhibited a variety of botanical, biological and archeological specimens, including a mastodon skeleton, the exhumation of which was painted by Charles Wilson Peale.
Peale Museum & Kurt L. Schmoke Conference Center, 225 North Holliday St., Baltimore, Maryland, Septmber 2008. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
![[photo, Maryland Geological Survey, Kenneth N. Weaver Building, 2300 St. Paul St., Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/21dnr/images/1198-1-1775b.jpg)
In Maryland, the formal study of geology originated with the first State Geological Survey, which began work in 1834. Its historical evolution led to the Maryland Geological Survey, which functions today within the Department of Natural Resources.
Maryland Geological Survey, Kenneth N. Weaver Building, 2300 St. Paul St., Baltimore, Maryland, April 2007. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
Federal institutions concerned with scientific investigations often make Maryland their base of operations. Here, for example, are found the Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt), the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda), and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (Silver Spring). Private research institutions located in the State include the MdBio Foundation, Inc. and the J. Craig Venter Institute.
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