Rice University

Rice University was founded in 1912 as the William M. Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science, and Art. Long known simply as the Rice Institute, the school acquired its present name in 1960.

The institute’s founding took place under unusual and scandalous circumstances. Its founder, the Massachusetts–born William Marsh Rice, was a businessman who had made a large fortune in real estate, railroad development, and cotton trading, much of it in the state of Texas.

Towards the end of his life, Rice decided that his estate should be directed after his death to the establishment in Houston of a tuition-free institution of higher learning of highest academic caliber.

In 1900, at age 84, Rice was found dead in his bed by his valet. It was then discovered that his will had been changed to leave everything to his New York–based attorney. It subsequently came out that the lawyer had changed the will on his own and conspired with the valet, who murdered Rice by administering chloroform to him in his sleep.

Eventually, the valet turned state’s evidence, the lawyer was tried and found guilty of murder, and Rice’s original wishes for the disposal of his estate were finally put into effect. The Rice Institute opened its doors in 1912, on the twelfth anniversary of his murder.

During the 1960s, Rice established a close relationship with NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Johnson Space Center), which remains strong to this day.

Rice remains a small and highly selective institution, with a little over 7000 students. The school operates on the honor code system (without proctored examinations).

There are three Rice-connected Nobel laureates, namely the astrophysicist Robert W. Wilson, and the chemists Richard Smalley and Robert Curl.

Other prominent Rice-associated individuals include the following:

• Novelists, Joyce Carol Oates and Larry McMurtry
• Journalist and columnist, Candace Bushnell
• Screenwriter, William Broyles, Jr.
• Aviator, Film director, Business magnate, and Philanthropist, Howard Hughes
• Mathematicians, George Mackey, Béatrice Rivière, George Piranian, Dennis Sullivan, Jack Morava, & Shelly Harvey
• Astronomer, James Gunn
• Physicist, John G. Cramer
• Chemist, Fred C. Koch
• Chemical engineer, Jay Bailey
• Nanotechnology pioneer, James Tour
• Neuroscientist, David Eagleman
• Biomedical engineer, Antonios Mikos
• Computer scientists, Krishna Palem & Lydia Kavraki
• Biochemist and astronaut, Peggy Whitson
• CBS News President, David Rhodes
• Former US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez