The book describes the birth and rise of the social role of a scholar and traces the evolution of scientific organization. Ben-David outlines the long history of scientific institutions from the late Middle Ages and to the present day and in doing so consistently rejects the notion of the linear evolution of science. The study explores the changing constellations of the interests of specific actors that had to do with the cognitive perception of the natural phenomena and shows how these channeled the crystallization of academics’ publicly acknowledged function. By offering a detailed survey of scientific organization, productivity and development within a broad socio-historical context, Ben-David explains why first Germany and then the United States were able to take world leadership in science and what were the diverse strategies that conditioned the choice of specific organizational modes of scientific pursuits and research in different societies.