Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins was designed from its origin to contribute to the cutting edge of scientific discovery. With time, this goal has been fully achieved, leading to the top-tier research institution that the university is today. The school is named after its founding benefactor, the entrepreneur and philanthropist Johns Hopkins, who contributed $7 million (approximately $145 million in today’s money) to create both the university and an associated hospital.

The educational philosophy of Hopkins (who had also been a noted abolitionist) and the university’s first president, the distinguished educator Daniel Coit Gilman, was heavily influenced by the model of the recently established German research universities, especially Heidelberg University, which had pioneered the concept of an arts and sciences graduate school analogous to the traditional professional schools for divinity, law, and medicine. For this reason, Johns Hopkins is often referred to as the first “research university” in the United States.

In particular, the school’s continuing emphasis on medical research and training (which has been present from the very beginning) has resulted today in one of the most highly regarded medical schools in the world. Not coincidentally, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is also the recipient of the largest amount of federal largesse in the form of research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The same thing is also true of the institution as a whole: Johns Hopkins receives more federal research funding than any other university in the country. As a result, the university comprises an entire array of top-tier schools, colleges, institutes, and laboratories. Among these we may mention:

• Peabody Institute
• Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)
• Whiting School of Engineering
• School of Nursing
• Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
• Carey Business School

Among Johns Hopkins’s numerous notable alumni are the following:

• Pioneering geneticist, T.H. Morgan
• Pragmatist philosopher and influential educator, John Dewey
• 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson
• American avant-garde novelists Gertrude Stein & John Barth
• Psychologist and founder of behaviorism, John B. Watson
• Influential environmentalist and author, Rachel Carson
• Innovative heart surgeon, Denton Cooley
• Distinguished obstetrician, Virginia Apgar
• Influential horror film director, Wes Craven
• Singer and pop star, Madonna (Madonna Ciccone)
• Former US ambassador and Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright
• Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former New York City–mayor, Michael Bloomberg
• Entrepreneur and 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate, Andrew Yang

Altogether, some 29 Johns Hopkins–connected alumni and faculty have been recipients of the Noble Prize.