Columbia University
Columbia University, officially Columbia University in the City of New York,[6] is a private, Ivy League, research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest in the United States.
For other uses, see Columbia University (disambiguation).
Former names
Columbia was established as a colonial college by royal charter under George II of Great Britain. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784 following the American Revolution, and in 1787 was placed under a private board of trustees headed by former students Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. In 1896, the campus was moved to its current location in Morningside Heights and renamed Columbia University.
Columbia is organized into twenty schools, including four undergraduate schools and 16 graduate schools. The university's research efforts include the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and accelerator laboratories with Big Tech firms such as Amazon and IBM.[7][8] Columbia is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and was the first school in the United States to grant the MD degree.[9] The university also administers and annually awards the Pulitzer Prize.
Columbia scientists and scholars have played a pivotal role in scientific breakthroughs including brain–computer interface; the laser and maser;[10][11] nuclear magnetic resonance;[12] the first nuclear pile; the first nuclear fission reaction in the Americas; the first evidence for plate tectonics and continental drift;[13][14][15] and much of the initial research and planning for the Manhattan Project during World War II.
As of December 2021, its alumni, faculty, and staff have included seven of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America;[n 1] four U.S. presidents;[n 2] 34 foreign heads of state or government;[n 3] two secretaries-general of the United Nations;[n 4] ten justices of the United States Supreme Court; 103 Nobel laureates; 125 National Academy of Sciences members;[57] 53 living billionaires;[58] 23 Olympic medalists;[59] 33 Academy Award winners; and 125 Pulitzer Prize recipients.
Undergraduate admissions statistics
3.9%
−2.1)66.5%
+1.4)1510–1560
−10 median)Alexander Hamilton: Founding Father of the United States; author of The Federalist Papers; first United States Secretary of the Treasury — King's College
John Jay: Founding Father of the United States; author of The Federalist Papers; first Chief Justice of the United States; second Governor of New York — King's College
Robert R. Livingston: Founding Father of the United States; drafter of the Declaration of Independence; first United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs — King's College
Gouverneur Morris: Founding Father of the United States; author of the United States Constitution; United States Senator from New York — King's College
DeWitt Clinton: United States Senator from New York; sixth Governor of New York; responsible for construction of Erie Canal — Columbia College
Barack Obama: 44th President of the United States; United States Senator from Illinois; Nobel laureate — Columbia College
Franklin D. Roosevelt: 32nd President of the United States; 44th Governor of New York — Columbia Law School
Theodore Roosevelt: 26th President of the United States; 25th Vice President of the United States; 33rd Governor of New York; Nobel laureate – Columbia Law School
Wellington Koo: acting President of the Republic of China; judge of the International Court of Justice — Columbia College, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
B. R. Ambedkar: Founding Father of India; architect of the Constitution of India; First Minister of Law and Justice — Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States — Columbia Law School
Charles Evans Hughes: 11th Chief Justice of the United States; 44th United States Secretary of State; 35th Governor of New York — Columbia Law School
Harlan Fiske Stone: 12th Chief Justice of the United States; 52nd United States Attorney General — Columbia Law School
William Barr: 77th and 85th United States Attorney General – Columbia College, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Hamilton Fish: 26th United States Secretary of State; United States Senator from New York; 16th Governor of New York — Columbia College
Madeleine Albright: 64th United States Secretary of State; first female Secretary of State — School of International and Public Affairs
Frances Perkins: fourth United States Secretary of Labor; first female member of any U.S. Cabinet — Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Robert A. Millikan: Nobel laureate; measured the elementary electric charge — Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Isidor Isaac Rabi: Nobel Laureate; discovered nuclear magnetic resonance — Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Julian S. Schwinger: Nobel laureate; pioneer of quantum field theory — Columbia College, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Milton Friedman: Nobel laureate, leading member of the Chicago school of economics — Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Simon Kuznets: Nobel laureate; invented concept of GDP; Milton Friedman's doctoral advisor — School of General Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Warren Buffett: CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; one of the world's wealthiest people — Columbia Business School
Robert Kraft: billionaire; owner of the New England Patriots; chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group — Columbia College
Richard Rodgers: legendary Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award-winning composer; Pulitzer Prize winner — Columbia College
Langston Hughes: Harlem Renaissance poet, novelist, and playwright — School of Engineering and Applied Science
Zora Neale Hurston: Harlem Renaissance author, anthropologist, and filmmaker — Barnard College, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Isaac Asimov: science fiction writer; biochemist — School of General Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Amelia Earhart: first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean — School of General Studies
