The Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences is the largest scientific institute in the Republic of Serbia. Founded in January 1948 as the Institute for Physics, it quickly attracted the attention of young talented university graduates of almost all fields of the natural and engineering sciences. As it grew, its research activities diversified, and by 1953 it had already become a recognized nuclear sciences research center. During the two subsequent decades the research profile of the Institute has been changing in favor of non-nuclear problems.