Specialty Digest

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Organizations

Institutions, agencies, and groups that shape the world.

The INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters building in Lyon, France

INTERPOL

INTERPOL, formally the International Criminal Police Organization, is an intergovernmental organization that helps the police of its 196 member countries work together. Its headquarters are in Lyon, France, and it provides secure communications, shared police databases and operational support. It does not run its own arrests: each member country decides how to act on its

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INTERPOL is the International Criminal Police Organization, an intergovernmental body of 196 member countries that shares police data and supports cross-border investigations.

Historical photograph of delegates at a League of Nations session in Geneva, from the Dutch archive collection

League of Nations

The League of Nations was the first intergovernmental organization founded to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security. It operated from 1920 to 1946 with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is often called the predecessor of the United Nations. History of the League of Nations President Woodrow Wilson called for

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The League of Nations was the first intergovernmental organization for international peace and cooperation, based in Geneva from 1920 until its dissolution in 1946.

The headquarters of the Max Planck Society in Munich, Germany

Max Planck Society

The Max Planck Society is a German non-profit research organization that runs institutes for basic research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences and humanities. Founded on 26 February 1948 as the successor to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it has its administrative headquarters in Munich and operated 85 institutes and research facilities as of

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The Max Planck Society is a German non-profit research organization founded in 1948 that runs 85 basic research institutes and is headquartered in Munich.

Presidents at the 39th Mercosur summit in San Juan, Argentina

Mercosur

Mercosur, short for Southern Common Market, is an economic and political bloc in South America. It consists of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as full members, and it was founded in 1991 to create a common market among its members. History of Mercosur Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay signed the Treaty of Asuncion on

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Mercosur is a South American trade and political bloc founded in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to build a common market.

The Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington, D.C.

NASA

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is the United States government agency responsible for civil spaceflight, aeronautics research and space and Earth science. Established in 1958 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., it ran the Apollo program that landed the first people on the Moon and now leads the Artemis campaign to return to the

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NASA is the United States civil space and aeronautics agency, established in 1958, which ran the Apollo Moon landings and leads the Artemis campaign.

Aerial view of the NIH Clinical Center, Building 10, on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the United States federal agency for medical and behavioral research. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, it is part of the Department of Health and Human Services and today includes 27 institutes and centers that carry out research directly and fund it at universities and hospitals around the country. History

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The National Institutes of Health is the U.S. federal agency in Bethesda, Maryland that conducts and funds biomedical research through 27 institutes and centers.

The new NATO headquarters building in Brussels

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, is a political and military alliance of 32 countries from Europe and North America whose members have pledged to defend one another. It was created by the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. Its members, called Allies, take decisions by consensus. History of

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NATO is a political and military alliance of 32 European and North American countries, founded in 1949 on a pledge of mutual defense.

The stage of the Stockholm Concert Hall prepared for the Nobel Prize award ceremony

Nobel Foundation

The Nobel Foundation is the institution, founded in 1900, that manages the fortune left by Alfred Nobel and looks after the practical side of the Nobel Prizes. Its board has its registered office in Stockholm, while separate prize-awarding institutions in Sweden and Norway choose the laureates. History of the Nobel Foundation Alfred Nobel, the inventor

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The Nobel Foundation is the Stockholm-based private institution, founded in 1900, that manages Alfred Nobel's fortune and administers the Nobel Prizes.

Château de la Muette in Paris, home of the OECD headquarters

OECD

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, is an intergovernmental organization of 38 member countries that analyzes economic and social policy, sets international standards and advises governments. It was founded in 1961 as the successor to the body that coordinated Marshall Plan aid for postwar Europe. Its headquarters are in Paris, France. History

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The OECD is a Paris-based intergovernmental organization of 38 countries that analyzes economic and social policy and sets international standards.

Entrance of the OPEC headquarters building in Vienna

OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, is a permanent intergovernmental organization of oil-producing countries that coordinates its members’ petroleum policies. It was created at the Baghdad Conference of 10 to 14 September 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and it has been headquartered in Vienna, Austria, since 1965. As

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OPEC is a Vienna-based organization of oil-producing countries, founded in Baghdad in 1960, that coordinates its members' petroleum policies.