To understand the groundbreaking discoveries in the field of neuroscience, it is important to understand the context of what came before, in the last half century. This book is a detailed description of the history of The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Blindness (NINDB, today the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). Two different perspectives (one historical and one scientific) will offer different kinds of analysis, each approach asking different questions, employing different methods, and relying on different sources of evidence. The first scientists laid the vital groundwork needed to make progress against neurological and mental disorders. Scientists today have powerful tools and methods at their disposal thanks to the efforts of the early neuroscientists, who fuelled the engine of discovery and changed the nature of the scientific questions that can be asked today. This publication can serve not only as an important stimulus for further research, but also provides a perspective that illuminates contemporary policy debates about the nature and direction of biomedical and social science research as well as the relationships between government and science.