think tanks of the modern kind started after the second world war, in the cold war era. the rand corporation was started in 1946 inside the douglas aircraft company, and was set up as an independent corporation in 1948. the name was taken from r&amp;d (research and development), though in fact it did no development. the rand used the same operations research (o.r.) methods which scientists had developed during the war. this was the application of knowledge, scientific methods and thinking to solve the new problems posed by the war. after the war, the rand used very similar techniques, mostly based on the hard sciences like maths, physics and economics. it was and still is funded mainly by the american government.