Carnegie Institution for Science

Name

Carnegie Institution for Science

Legal name

Carnegie Institution for Science

Website

https://carnegiescience.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1902

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scientific Research Services

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827)

akta.pro primary industry

Comprehensive Doctoral Research Universities (Multi-Disciplinary) (EDAHABAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Technical Universities with Energy, Materials & Sustainability Focus (EDAHAEAL)

Keywords

• Scientific research
• Astronomical observatory operations
• Planetary science research
• Biosphere sciences engineering
• Earth planets laboratory

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Endowment Investment Returns: Carnegie Science's endowment, established by Andrew Carnegie's founding gift of $10 million, has grown to approximately $986 million as of June 30, 2025. The diversified investment pool generated a net return of 9.3 percent in fiscal year 2025. Endowment support enables scientists to pursue research agendas of their choosing.
2. Federal Grants: Robust program of federal grants supports scientific research. Carnegie reports over $20 million in proposals pending status. Grant funding enables specific research projects across all divisions.
3. Philanthropy: Carnegie receives nearly $11.7 million annually in gifts and grants from more than 600 individual donors and foundations. Over the past 16 years, this support has totaled $186.5 million: $88.6 million from individuals and family foundations, $84.7 million in awards from private foundations, $13.2 million in gifts and grants from other sources.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Carnegie Institution for Science is an independent nonprofit research organization conducting fundamental scientific research across astronomy, earth and planetary science, and biosciences through three interdisciplinary divisions. It operates world-class research facilities — most notably the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile — develops custom scientific instrumentation in-house, and trains early-career scientists through postdoctoral fellowship programs. Outputs include scientific publications, discoveries, and trained researchers rather than commercial products.

Product overview

Carnegie Institution for Science is an independent nonprofit research organization, not a product company. Its core 'offering' is scientific research conducted across three interdisciplinary divisions: Biosphere Sciences & Engineering (BSE), Earth & Planets Laboratory (EPL), and Observatories. These divisions pursue research from genomes to ecosystems and from planets to the cosmos. Key scientific assets include world-class telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile (Magellan Telescopes, Swope Telescope, du Pont Telescope, and the Giant Magellan Telescope under construction). The institution also offers postdoctoral fellowship programs as a pathway for early career scientists. There is no commercial product platform or software-as-a-service offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Biosphere Sciences & Engineering Division (BSE) An interdisciplinary division devoted to disrupting traditional siloed perspectives on life sciences research, pursuing integrated approaches to challenges including developmental biology, ecology, genetics, and plant science across research sites in Pasadena CA, Baltimore MD, and Stanford CA.
• Earth & Planets Laboratory (EPL) A research division that discovers exoplanets, creates new materials, illuminates Earth's inner workings, and explores the universe, located at the Broad Branch Road Campus in Washington, DC.
• Observatories Division The astronomy and astrophysics division that has transformed humanity's understanding of the cosmos, operating world-famous telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile with a research campus in Pasadena, CA.
• Las Campanas Observatory A world-class observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert providing access to first-in-class telescopes including the Magellan Telescopes, Swope Telescope, and du Pont Telescope with exceptional viewing conditions for the Magellanic clouds and southern sky.
• Magellan Telescopes Twin 6.5-meter optical telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory used for astronomical research including exoplanet discovery, galaxy surveys, and cosmological studies.
• Swope Telescope A 1-meter telescope at Las Campanas Observatory used for supernova research, exoplanet surveys, and variable star observations.
• du Pont Telescope A 2.5-meter telescope at Las Campanas Observatory used for wide-field imaging and spectroscopic observations.
• Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs Prestigious postdoctoral fellowship opportunities across all three divisions, including the Carnegie Fellowship, 51 Pegasi b Fellowship (planetary astronomy), Heising-Simons Fellowship, CTAC Fellowship, and the joint Carnegie-Caltech Theory Fellowship, supporting roughly 98 postdoctoral fellows.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 120 years of breakthrough discoveries transforming understanding of biology, planet, and universe
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• NASA (James Webb Space Telescope)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 June 2026International team led by Carnegie Science's Andrew Newman used James Webb Space Telescope combined with gravitational lensing to successfully measure mass of dormant supermassive black hole in galaxy MRG-M0138, over 10 billion light-years away. First time stellar dynamical measurements extended to cosmological distances.
• Yale UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Carnegie Science and Yale University researchers discovered massive 12-mile-thick layer of unusually light rock beneath Bermuda supporting the island above ocean floor. Research published in Geophysical Research Letters challenges traditional mantle plume theory and suggests undiscovered convective processes in Earth's mantle.
• Caltech (California Institute of Technology)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2026Carnegie Science ended its century-long partnership with Johns Hopkins University to expand collaboration with Caltech in Pasadena, California. This strategic realignment focuses research efforts on the West Coast. Growing partnership includes significant collaborations on technology driving 21st-century science, including next-generation telescopes and instrumentation.
• University of BirminghamcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2026University of Birmingham researchers collaborated with Carnegie Science on study published in Astronomical Journal discovering TOI-5205b exoplanet with unusual atmospheric composition orbiting red dwarf star, challenging conventional stellar formation theories.
• University of IdahocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025University of Idaho leads $1.25 million NSF grant with Carnegie Science and Rutgers University as research partners for OneMineralogy project to expand Mindat open mineral database. Project aims to create intelligent data platform enhancing mineral data accessibility for scientists, educators, and public while supporting Idaho's mining workforce development.
• Rutgers UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Research partner with University of Idaho and Carnegie Science on $1.25 million NSF grant for OneMineralogy project to advance Mindat open mineral database through AI and data science applications in mineral mapping.
• The Astrophysical JournalOthers · 1 December 2025Carnegie scientist Erika Nesvold published research in The Astrophysical Journal Letters modeling HD 106906 stellar system demonstrating how a giant planet shapes debris disk structure through gravitational influence.
• Idaho Mining AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Partner with Carnegie Science and University of Idaho on OneMineralogy project to apply AI and data science in mineral mapping including cobalt and rare earth elements, supporting Idaho's mining workforce development.
• Giant Magellan Telescope OrganizationflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCarnegie Science is building the Giant Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The GMT is a next-generation ground-based telescope poised to provide insights into cosmic origins and the ability to study atmospheres of distant worlds.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• American Museum of Natural History: AMNH operates a multi-divisional research enterprise spanning astrophysics, Earth science, and biology comparable to Carnegie's three-division structure, with a major observatory program and significant endowment-driven science operations.
• Field Museum of Natural History: The Field Museum is a research-focused natural history institution conducting Earth and life sciences research comparable to portions of Carnegie's Biosphere Sciences and Earth & Planets Laboratory portfolios, particularly in geochemistry and mineralogy.

Emerging players

• SETI Institute: SETI is a nonprofit research institute focused on astrobiology and exoplanet science that overlaps with Carnegie's planetary and astrobiology programs. Both operate as private research institutions with mixed federal grant and philanthropic funding.
• Space Telescope Science Institute: STScI operates Hubble and JWST science operations, comparable to Carnegie's Observatories division in conducting space-based astronomical research. Both compete for federal astronomy funding and produce high-impact cosmological and exoplanet science.

Direct peers

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute: HHMI is the largest private biomedical research organization in the US, funding and operating research labs similar to Carnegie's Biosphere Sciences & Engineering division. Both are private nonprofit research institutions with large endowments and a focus on investigator-driven basic science.
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography: Scripps is a major multi-disciplinary Earth and ocean science research center comparable to Carnegie's Earth & Planets Laboratory, with similar scale of federal grant funding and investigator-driven research model.
• Smithsonian Institution: The Smithsonian operates research centers across astrophysics, planetary science, and biology comparable to Carnegie's three divisions. Both are large, endowed research complexes with major observatory facilities and museum/public-engagement mandates.
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: WHOI is an independent nonprofit oceanographic research institution comparable to Carnegie in operating large-scale field research infrastructure with a multi-disciplinary science portfolio and a mix of federal and philanthropic funding.
• The Salk Institute for Biological Studies: Salk is an independent nonprofit biological research institute in La Jolla, California, comparable to Carnegie in operating private research labs focused on fundamental biological science with a small, elite researcher model and significant endowment funding.

Broad incumbents

• California Institute of Technology (Caltech): Caltech is Carnegie's newly expanded strategic partner and operates astronomical observatories (Palomar, Keck) plus Earth and planetary science programs that directly overlap with Carnegie's research portfolio. Comparable as a research-intensive scientific institution with major instrument-building capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/carnegiescience
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/CarnegieInstitution
• Facebookfacebook.com/carnegiescience
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/carnegie-institution-for-science_62514
• Instagraminstagram.com/carnegiescience

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments1 record

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Frequently asked questions about Carnegie Institution for Science