The Wellcome Trust is a charitable institution supporting medical and allied research throughout the world. This History of the Trust marks the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary in 1986. Professor A. Rupert Hall, a prominent science historian, long associated with the Trust, and B. A. Bembridge, a retired Trust scientist, have written this lucid and well informed account which charts the development of the organisation from its inception in 1936 to the present day. Within this framework, there is an underlying discussion of the 'philosophy' of the financial endowment of science and medicine. The Wellcome Trust has had an enormous impact on medical research over the years. This volume provides a unique insight into the development of a leading scientific research body, and its relevance to similar institutions the world over.