NIH has always emphasized the importance of basic research not related to the solution of immediate medical problems. National crises such as World War II and the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, have demonstrated that intense applied research to solve military problems can best be organized quickly by continuing to raise the level of basic knowledge during peacetime. Before the 1970s, much basic research relied on the development of highly specialized techniques and instruments such as electrophoresis, mass spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Basic studies funded by NIH have resulted in the awarding of more than 100 Nobel prizes, five of which were awarded to intramural scientists. Since the 1970s, techniques have emerged that allow studies of the human body at the molecular level. Molecular immunology and molecular neuroscience studies have been particularly fruitful in recent years.

As one example of basic research, the Office of NIH History developed a website on one instrument, the AMINCO-Bowman spectrophotofluorometer, which was developed in the intramural program at NIH and was used in the Nobel prize-winning work of Dr. Julius Axelrod on neurotransmitters. The URL for this website is http://history.nih.gov/exhibits/bowman