University of Rochester

The University of Rochester traces its roots to the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York, founded in 1817 in the town of Hamilton in central New York state. Its primary function was to train Baptist clergymen. In 1823, the educational society changed its name to the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution.

In 1846, the Hamilton Institution created a new collegiate division, under the name of Madison University, for the purpose of providing its students with a broader and more-modern, non-theological curriculum. In 1890, Madison University changed its name to Colgate University, which continues to operate in Hamilton to this day.

At the time of the founding of Madison University in 1846, there was a dispute, which led to the departure of many faculty members for a new university that was being planned in the city of Rochester, farther west, near the shore of Lake Ontario. The new school, named the University of Rochester, was finally chartered in 1850, which is usually considered as the date of the school’s founding, in spite of the fact that many of the faculty members had come directly from Madison University.

The first year’s enrollment was very small, comprising some 60 students—28 of whom had also transferred from Madison University. Today, the University of Rochester is a private, secular, research university with a total student population of more than 12,000.

Among Rochester’s many highly esteemed schools, colleges, and institutes, the following are especially worthy of mention: the Laboratory of Laser Energetics; the Institute of Optics; and the Eastman School of Music, which is among the finest music programs in the country.

Twelve Nobel laureates have been associated with the University of Rochester, namely,

Physics–

• Gérard Mourou
• Donna Strickland
• Masatoshi Koshiba
• Steven Chu

Chemistry–

• Biochemist, Vincent du Vigneaud

Physiology or Medicine–

• George Whipple
• Henrik Dam
• D. Carleton Gajdusek
• Arthur Kornberg

Economics

• Richard Thaler
• Paul Romer
• Robert Fogel

Other distinguished Rochester-connected individuals include the following:

• Mathematician, Arthur J. Lohwater
• Computer scientists, Stan Frankel, Avie Tevanian, Bruce Schneier, Corinna Cortes & J.C.R. Licklider
• Philosophers, Myles Brand & Peter van Inwagen
• Poet, Galway Kinnell
• Novelist, Shirley Jackson
• Mystery writer, Thomas Perry
• US Pledge of Allegiance author, Francis Bellamy
• Literary theorist, N. Katherine Hayles
• Actors, Robert Wallace Forster, Jr., Lance Reddick & Debra Jo Rupp
• Theater producer, George Abbott
• Film critic, Janet Maslin
• Popular singer and songwriter, Wendy O. Williams
• Jazz bassist, Ron Carter
• Trumpet player and composer, Chuck Mangione
• Drummer, Steve Gadd
• Classical composer, David Diamond
• Film composer, Angelo Badalamenti
• Tenor, Anthony Dean Griffey
• Soprano, Renée Fleming
• Astronomer, Robert H. Dicke
• Astrophysicist, Adam Frank
• Physicists, John C. Slater, Emil Wolf, Carlos Stroud, Greg Gbur, Robert W. Boyd & George Sudarshan
• Optical engineer, Robert E. Hopkins
• Engineer and inventor, Gary Starkweather
• Chemists, Esther M. Conwell & Steven M. Weinreb
• Geologist, Grove Karl Gilbert
• Neurologist, Rudolph E. Tanzi
• Cognitive neuroscientist, Susan Hockfield
• Evolutionary biologists, H. Allen Orr & David Sloan Wilson
• Sex researcher, William Masters
• Psychologists, Richard M. Ryan & Mark Rosenzweig
• Economists, Hugo Sonnenschein, Steven E. Landsburg, Lionel McKenzie, Michele Boldrin, Kenneth French & Zvi Hercowitz
• Economist and public servant, Lawrence Kudlow
• Economist and social activist, Jennifer Roback Morse
• Historians, Steven Hahn, Stephen Kotkin & Richard M. Dolan
• Linguist, Ivan Sag
• Political scientists, Richard McKelvey, Morris P. Fiorina & John Aldrich
• African-American Studies scholar, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham
• Legal scholar, Arthur R. Miller