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PITT 225TH ANNIVERSARY TIMELINE

1787
Pitt Founded

The University of Pittsburgh, originally named the Pittsburgh Academy, begins
life in a log cabin on the American frontier. In petitioning Pennsylvania’s
state assembly to charter an academy of learning in Pittsburgh, founding
principal Hugh Henry Brackenridge writes, “We all know that the strength of a
state greatly consists in the superior mental powers of the inhabitants.”

1819
From Academy to WUP

As Pittsburgh’s population multiplies (six times between 1794 and 1820), the
city requires an academic institution with full university powers to better
serve the region’s rising generations. On Feb. 18, 1819, at the request of
Pittsburgh Academy trustees, the Pennsylvania legislature recharters the school
as the Western University of Pennsylvania.

1823
First Degrees

At its first commencement ceremony, the University awards three academic
degrees, all of them BAs. (In 2011, Pitt conferred 4,212 baccalaureate degrees,
2,315 master’s degrees, 519 doctoral degrees, and 594 doctorate-professional
practice degrees.)

1830
Going Downtown

The University moves into a three-story building on Third Street in downtown
Pittsburgh that student (and future banker) Thomas Mellon calls “large and
imposing.” Early on, some top-floor rooms are rented to students as living
quarters.

1845
The Great Fire

Pittsburgh’s Great Fire of 1845 destroys some 900 buildings, including the
University’s Third Street home—and with it, all of the University’s records,
files, books, and scientific equipment. Some trustees want to cease operations,
but a local church offers its basement as temporary classroom space until the
University can construct a new building.

1855
A Phoenix Rising

The University builds a new home, but in 1849 that building burns down, too,
suspending classes and again destroying the institution’s records and equipment.
Six years later, the University reopens in yet another new building, also
downtown. The building’s cornerstone, laid on September 2, 1854, contains a copy
of each of the city’s 11 newspapers and a list of those working on the project.
To their names they append the exhortation: “God save the Union and abolish all
slavery!”

1867
Allegheny Observatory

The original Allegheny Observatory (pictured) is donated to the University. The
current Allegheny Observatory, completed in 1912 in Pittsburgh's Riverview Park,
houses the world's third-largest refracting telescope and remains both a part of
Pitt and one of the world's major astronomical research institutions.

1882
North Side Move

After fire destroys downtown Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County Court House, the
University agrees to sell its downtown land and buildings to the county and move
to Allegheny City, now Pittsburgh’s North Side.

1893
William Hunter Dammond

William Hunter Dammond earns a degree in civil engineering (with honors),
becoming the University’s first Black graduate. Dammond is remembered as an
engineer, mathematician, professor, and inventor who made noteworthy
contributions to the railroad industry, which employed large numbers of African
Americans.

1896
Samuel Langley

Pitt astronomer Samuel Langley launches the first power-driven, heavier-than-air
flying machines. On May 6, 1896, his prototype—an unmanned, steam-driven
aerodrome—takes off into the sky from a secluded spot along the Potomac River in
Washington D.C. It flies at 25 mph for more than a minute. On November 28,
another Langley aerodrome travels 4,200 feet at 30 mph.

1898
John Brashear

John Brashear becomes director of the University’s Allegheny Observatory. A
pioneering astronomer, “Uncle John”—as Pittsburghers fondly called him—built his
first telescope in 1870 and produced many scientific instruments still in use
today. He serves as Pitt chancellor from 1901 to 1904.

1898
Margaret and Stella Stein

Sisters Margaret and Stella Stein, the first women students admitted to the
University, graduate with BA degrees, tying for first in their class. Years
earlier, their male classmates had voted not to admit women, but the
University’s administration, hoping to boost enrollment, had overruled the vote.

1906
Reginald Fessenden

Engineering professor Reginald Fessenden proves that radio waves can transmit
human speech. Fessenden makes broadcast history in November 1906 when he
transmits his chief engineer’s voice across the Atlantic Ocean. On Christmas
Eve, he broadcasts Christmas carols and a violin solo.

1908
From WUP to Pitt

The Western University of Pennsylvania changes its name to the University of
Pittsburgh, citing the following reasons: 1.) The old name gave no hint as to
the University’s location; 2.) the University’s acronym of WUP, pronounced whup,
was thought to be undignified; 3.) a shorter name was desirable; and 4.) some
people mistakenly believed the University was a western branch of the University
of Pennsylvania.

1908
Oakland Campus

In 1908, the first cornerstone is laid for Pitt’s Oakland campus. Speakers at
the cornerstone ceremony include former Pitt chancellors, Pittsburgh’s mayor,
Pennsylvania’s governor, and the Vice President of the United States. Chancellor
Samuel B. McCormick taps the stone with a hammer and declares, “For the glory of
God, for the uplifting of humanity, for the conquest of this earth, in the name
of true science and sound learning, I now declare this cornerstone well and
truly laid.”

1909
The Pitt Panther

The University of Pittsburgh adopts the panther as its mascot, for the following
reasons: 1) The panther was a fearsome animal indigenous to the area, 2.) it was
historically considered noble, 3.) “the happy accident of alliteration,” 4.) the
panther’s coloring matches the old gold in Pitt’s blue-and-gold colors, and 5.)
no other college or university had a panther mascot at the time.

1913
Maud Menton

Together with Leonor Michaelis, Maud Menten develops an equation to help study
rates and mechanisms of enzymatic reactions. Five years later, she joins Pitt’s
Department of Pathology, where she remains for the rest of her career. The
Michaelis-Menten equation becomes pivotal in biochemistry and is cited as the
foundation of modern enzymology as well as a powerful tool for drug discovery.

1917
World War I

Pitt sends a medical team to France to treat U.S. soldiers. Private citizens who
believed that America would enter the war on the side of Britain and France had
contributed time and money to establish a medical training camp before the
United States formally declared war. As a result, Pitt’s medical school had a
field hospital unit ready for service the day after the United States declared
war on Germany.

1920
Lantern Night

Launching a tradition that still continues, Pitt freshman women holding lighted
candles assemble to hear the wisdom of their elders. College administrators,
especially deans of women, say they hope "sensible" ceremonies such as Lantern
Night will replace the wild and often dangerous hazing practices of college men.

1923
Father of TV

Vladimir Zworykin files a patent entitled “Television Systems,” describing
cathode ray tubes as both transmitters and receivers. Following an unsuccessful
demonstration at Westinghouse, Zworykin refines his invention at Pitt, where he
earns his PhD in 1926. A decade later, Zworykin’s cameras are among those used
to broadcast the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games to public theaters—the same Olympics
where Pitt’s John Woodruff wins the gold medal in the 800-meter run.

1925
Ten Cents a Brick

Some 97,000 local schoolchildren each donate a dime in a “Buy a Brick” campaign
to help fund construction of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning. Each contributing
child receives a certificate testifying that he or she is a member of the
“fellowship of builders of the Cathedral of Learning.”

1927
Pitt-Johnstown

Pitt’s first regional campus opens in Johnstown, Pa. One of the first branch
campuses of a major university in the United States, the University of
Pittsburgh at Johnstown is a four-year degree-granting, fully accredited,
undergraduate college combining the academic reputation and resources of a major
research university with the appeal of a small college.

1932
Charles Glen King

After five years of research, Pitt chemistry professor Charles Glen King and his
research team isolate and identify the chemical structure of vitamin C.
Thousands of lemons give their lives in the interest of science and to defeat
scurvy, an often-fatal disease caused by vitamin C deficiency.

1936
Woodruff Wins Gold

John Woodruff wins a gold medal in the 800-meter run at the Olympic Games in
Berlin—the first Olympic medal won by a Pitt athlete, and the United States’
first gold in the 800 meters in 24 years. During the race, Woodruff found
himself boxed in by more experienced runners. He came to a near-stop, let the
other runners pass him, and moved to an outside lane. He then took the lead and
held it to the tape, finishing in 1:52.9.

1937
Cathedral of Learning

Pitt dedicates the 42-story Cathedral of Learning, still the tallest educational
building in the Western Hemisphere and the second-tallest in the world, after
the University of Moscow’s main building.

1937
Rose Bowl Win

Pitt’s football team wins the Rose Bowl, its first bowl victory. The Panthers
headed to Pasadena in style, wearing the first traveling uniform issued to a
college team—gray slacks and gray shirts with a Pitt monogram.

1941
World War II

During the war, 9,508 Pitt students, alumni, faculty, and staff members serve in
the U.S. armed forces; 249 of them are killed. Pitt publishes a booklet,
“Soldiers Belong Here,” for the thousands of military personnel who train and
take classes at the University from 1942 to 1945.

1951
Gene Kelly

An American in Paris, starring Pitt grad Gene Kelly, wins an Academy Award for
Best Picture as well as six other Oscars, including one citing Kelly’s “extreme
versatility as an actor, singer, director, and dancer, but specifically for his
brilliant achievement in the art of choreography on film.” Kelly’s next
Oscar-winner would be the sublime Singin' in the Rain, commonly ranked among the
best musical comedies ever made.

1955
Polio Vaccine

The polio vaccine developed by Pitt professor Jonas Salk and his research team
is declared to be “safe, effective, and potent” following an unprecedented,
massive testing in the United States and Canada. Within a few years, the number
of polio cases in the United States drops from a high of 57,900 to barely a
handful.

1956
Wilfrid Sellars

Wilfrid Sellars lays the groundwork for his new, systematic approach to
philosophy with his paper, “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind,” which seeks
to unite scientific views of reality with more intuitive ways of describing the
world. This framework becomes known as the “Pittsburgh School” when Sellars
comes to Pitt in 1963, where he will teach until his death in 1989.

1959
Krushchev Visits

Pittsburgh is the final stop on Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s 11-day U.S.
tour. “Let us live in peace, and let us have sincere competition,” he says
during a Pitt-hosted luncheon in the ballroom of Schenley Hall, now the William
Pitt Union. Pitt Chancellor Edward Litchfield thanks Khrushchev for bringing up
the subject of competition, which Litchfield calls “essential to our society. We
build institutions about it… ."

1963
UPB, UPG, and UPT

Classes begin at new Pitt regional campuses in Bradford, Greensburg, and
Titusville. UPB and UPG are comprehensive four-year undergraduate campuses. UPT
is Pitt’s only two-year campus.

1964
Synthesizing Insulin

Pitt’s Panayotis Katsoyannis performs the first chemical synthesis of a
polypeptide hormone—insulin—and combines it with biologically active material,
providing the means to explore and validate previous assumptions about the
active amino acids in the insulin molecule. Katsoyannis goes on to also
synthesize both oxytocin and vasopressin.

1964
Insulin Synthesized

Pitt scientists complete the first synthesis of insulin, the first time a true
protein was ever synthesized. Prior to this, insulin for human use was obtained
from sheep and cows in a process that was messy, complicated, and expensive.

1966
Pitt Goes State-Related

Pennsylvania governor William Scranton signs the bill making Pitt a
state-related institution. In exchange for increased financial support from the
state, the University lowers tuition and accepts state-appointed members on its
Board of Trustees. (Pennsylvania’s contribution to Pitt’s annual budget has
diminished steadily, from more than 30 percent in the mid-1970s to less than 10
percent in 2011.)

1968
Hillman Library

Pitt’s Hillman Library opens, with a million books. In 2008, Pitt’s University
Library System acquires its 5-millionth volume, Making the Impossible Possible
by Pitt alumnus and trustee William Strickland. Besides print materials, ULS
features digital collections, including the most extensive documentation of the
European Union’s formation.

1974
AAU Election

Pitt is elected to the Association of American Universities (AAU), an
organization comprising North America’s leading research universities. Founded
in 1900, the AAU focuses on issues important to research-intensive universities,
including funding for research, research and education policy, and graduate and
undergraduate education.

1976
Gridiron Glory

Pitt wins its ninth national championship in football, and Panthers running back
Tony Dorsett wins the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player. Dorsett
finishes the 1976 season with 1,948 yards—an NCAA record—and 23 touchdowns.

1979
Safar Center

Pitt’s Peter Safar, who developed CPR, founds Pitt’s International Resuscitation
Research Center, a pioneer in intensive care medicine. When Patrick Kochanek
succeeds Safar as director in 1994, his first act is to rename the center after
its founder. Since 1995, Safar Center investigators have received more than $50
million in research grants.

1983
William Pitt Union

Following a $13.9-million renovation, Pitt’s student union—formerly called
Schenley Hall—reopens as the William Pitt Union. In addition to upgrading
offices for student organizations, the work restores the Beaux-Arts elegance of
the building back when it was the Schenley Hotel, lodging place of presidents
(from Theodore Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhower) as well as royalty from Hollywood
(including Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) and baseball (Babe Ruth and Ty
Cobb, among others).

1984
Kingdom's Gold

Roger Kingdom (CGS ’02) wins the gold medal in the 110-meter high hurdles at the
Olympic Games in Los Angeles, then proceeds to take another gold in the same
event in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

1984
World's First Double Transplant Operation

Pitt surgeons Thomas Starzl (pictured) and Henry Bahnson perform the world's
first double transplant operation (simultaneous heart and liver) on a
six-year-old girl from Texas. The pioneering work of Starzl, Bahnson, and others
establish Pitt as a world leader in organ transplantation.

1985
Fiber Optic Campus

Pitt installs the first campus-wide fiber optic network in higher education,
giving students, faculty, and staff access to high-speed data and
communications.

1991
Most Distant Galaxy

Pitt astronomer David Turnshek identifies the most distant galaxy known.
Turnshek, at the forefront of studying galaxy formation, uses all of the major
ground-based telescopes in Arizona, California, and Chile; he is also a major
user of the Hubble space telescope.

1991
Mary Edmonds

Mary Edmonds is elected to the National Academy of Sciences for her research of
poly (A) tails—a sequence of nucleotides to protect messenger RNA from
degradation during transcription. Edmonds began her 37-year teaching tenure as a
professor of biological sciences at Pitt in 1955. Today, Pitt bestows the Mary
Edmonds Award to recognize the best graduate student publication in the
biological sciences.

1998
Capital Campaign

Pitt launches its $500-million “Discover a World of Possibilities” capital
campaign. After surpassing that total, in 2002 the University doubles the goal
to $1 billion. Four years later, Pitt doubles the goal yet again, to $2 billion.
The University had raised $1.85 billion as of January 2012.

2000
Supercomputing

The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, jointly run by Pitt, Carnegie Mellon
University, and Westinghouse Corp., receives $45 million to operate the most
powerful nonmilitary computer in the world. The Terascale Computing System is
the size of a basketball court and can predict weather, map chemical body
reactions, and model earthquakes. The system has 10,000 times the memory of an
average computer and the capacity to perform 6 trillion calculations per second.

2001
Life Sciences Greenhouse

Pitt, in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University, unveils a $600-million
plan to boost Pittsburgh’s biotechnology industry. The universities apply their
expertise in life and computer sciences toward drug discovery, therapeutic
strategies for neurological disorders, tissue engineering, and medical devices.

2001
Michael Chabon

Pitt alumnus Michael Chabon wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel,
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. His first novel, The Mysteries of
Pittsburgh, had been largely inspired by his days as a Pitt undergraduate. His
second novel, Wonder Boys, was made into an Oscar-nominated movie. Rumor has it
that Wonder Boys’ main character, Grady Tripp, was based on Pitt writing
professor and novelist Chuck Kinder, Chabon’s former teacher.

2002
"Knowledge Town"

President George W. Bush meets with Pitt researchers to discuss efforts to
combat bioterrorism. After touring Pitt and UPMC labs, Bush says of Pittsburgh,
“They need to call it ‘Knowledge Town.’”  Bush lauds Pitt’s development of the
Real-time Outbreak Disease Surveillance system (RODS), which received a $6
million grant from the Department of Defense.

2003
Marshall Center of Excellence

In recognition of Pitt’s unparalleled record of achievement in the Marshall
Scholarship Competition and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Marshall
Scholarship Program, His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, The Duke of York,
designates the University as a Marshall Center of Excellence during an Oct. 24
luncheon in Pitt’s Alumni Hall.

2003
Lauterbur's Nobel

Paul Lauterbur (ENG ’62G)—along with Peter Mansfield—is awarded the Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine for work in magnetic resonance imaging, the idea for
which Lauterbur scribbled on a napkin at a local Big Boy restaurant when he was
a Pitt doctoral student.

2004
Maathai's Nobel

Wangari Maathai (A&S ’65G) is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work as a
human rights advocate, including her founding of the Green Belt Movement, which
mobilizes Kenyans, many of them women, to plant trees—providing employment for
them and renewable resources for their villages. She is the first African woman,
and Pitt grad, to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

2007
Cathedral Cleanup

Pitt trustees approve a $4.8-million project to clean and restore the Cathedral
of Learning, which coincides with the building’s 70th anniversary and the
University’s 220th birthday. The project’s most visible result is the removal of
nearly 70 years of soot and grime, but workers also repair damage to the
limestone façade.

2008
National Medal of Science

At a White House ceremony, alumnus Bert W. O’Malley becomes the fifth
Pitt-affiliated winner of a National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest
honor for science and engineering. O'Malley is honored for his contributions to
the fields of endocrinology, reproduction, genetic disease, and endocrine
cancers.

2009
Men's Basketball No. 1

On January 5, for the first time in school history, the Pitt men’s basketball
program is ranked No. 1 in the weekly Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN
coaches polls.

2010
Highly Ranked

Pitt maintains its top 20 ranking among U.S. public universities in U.S. News &
World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” listings, and Pitt graduate
schools and programs perennially earn high grades in U.S. News’ Best Graduate
Schools rankings. Also in 2010, Pitt placed 15th among U.S. public institutions
of higher education and 64th worldwide in the London-based 2010-11 Times Higher
Education rankings.


2011
Rhodes Warriors

Pitt’s Cory J. Rodgers is named a 2012 Rhodes Scholarship winner. He is the
seventh Rhodes Scholar to have received a Pitt undergraduate education, and the
fourth in the last seven years. Pitt students also have won numerous other
highly competitive national and international scholarships, including Churchill,
Gates Cambridge, Goldwater, Marshall, Truman, and Udall Scholarships.

2011
Largest Gift in Pitt History

Pitt trustee and former Board of Trustees chair William S. Dietrich II—a
business leader, investor, author, and philanthropist who earned his MA and PhD
from Pitt—gives the largest single gift to Pitt in its 225-year history, a $125
million fund. Weeks later, on October 6, Dietrich dies after an extended
illness. On October 28, Pitt trustees vote to name the University’s arts and
sciences school the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in honor of
Dietrich’s father.

2012
Happy 225th

Pitt celebrates 225 years of building better lives.

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