Dr. Hall's short autobiography (the article linked here) shows one downside of research-only orgs: the superstar effect - the celebrity principal investigator e

Dr. Hall's short autobiography (the article linked here) shows one downside of research-only orgs: the superstar effect - the celebrity principal investigator effect. A prestigious research-only org can fall under the sway of a single ego, or a few egos. When that happens it can drive away real inquiry. Readers of HN are generally accustomed to a winner-take-all approach to life. That's also known as an inverse-power-law approach or a network-effect approach. It's what makes cities and social networks get big. Science policy well done struggles to counter this. It's smart to keep science real by spreading the financing and the expertise around. That being said, there are plenty of research orgs. The late lamented Bell Telephone Laboratories, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Max-Planck Institutes are just a few.