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==Aristotle's Lyceum==
In the ancient Greek world, a scientific institution created by Aristotle was both important in its own terms and a pre-cursor of even more important activity. Aristotle was the son of the court physician at Macedon.  He is thought to have entered Plato's [[Academy]] at about the age of 17 and remained there for 20 years until after Plato's death in 347 BC. Matson (1968) reports a long-standing view that Aristotle left Athens following the death of Plato after not being named to head the Academy, and  opened his own philosophical school after being passed over a second time upon the death of Speusippius. <ref>{{cite book|author=Wallace I. Matson|title=A History of Philosophy|edition=|publisher=American Book Company|year=1968|pages=p. 115|id=Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) 68003098}}</ref>. Whether or not this is historically accurate matters primarily to ancient historians.  From the standpoint of organizations and institutions, these claims have a ring of authenticity to them, as anyone familiar with programmatic struggles and leadership succession issues in contemporary scientific organizations and associations can attest.

:Following a few years absence, which apparently included various philosophical, biological and zoological research activities Aristotle undertook supervision of the education of Alexander the Great for three years, and about 335 BC returned to Athens to open his own philosophical school, which we know as the Lyceum.  Like Plato's Academy, the Lyceum was probably located outside Athens, a short distance northeast of the city and named after a place. The curriculum of the Lyceum was decidedly Aristotelian with a strong emphasis on natural science, particularly biology, and natural history.  According to Matson (115), the Lyceum contained an extensive library and collection of plant and animal specimens.  It also may have been the base of operations for a large research network of biological investigators that reached across the region.  Moses Finlay notes that at one time, Aristotle is reputed to have had a network of at least 1,000 researchers in the field gathering data throughout the Mediterranean region.<ref>Moses I. Finley (1974) ''Aristotle and economic analysis'', in {{cite book|author=ed. Moses I. Finley|title=Studies in Ancient Society|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|pages=pp. 26-52|year=1974|id=ISBN 0-7100-7781-5}}</ref> 

The Internet Encyclopedia of Science expresses doubts on this point: 
:Both Philip [then King of Macedonia] and Alexander appear to have paid Aristotle high honor, and there were stories that Aristotle was supplied by the Macedonian court, not only with funds for teaching, but also with thousands of slaves to collect specimens for his studies in natural science. These stories are probably false and certainly exaggerated. <ref>[http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/aristotl.htm#H1 Aristotle (384—322 BCE)] From the website of the ''The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (IEP)</ref>

Following the example of Plato's Academy, there were also a number of other philosophical schools founded in Athens by Epicurius and others, some of which endured for many centuries, but Aristotle's Lyceum appears to be the one with the clearest connection to the history of science.