Stories of names

Who was Harvard named after? Origin of university names

Image: Czapp Árpád

Who were the men named Harvard, Rice, or Duke? Only true visionaries would donate half of their estate to sculpting the minds of the future. From the heartfelt tribute behind Stanford’s name to the post-revolutionary rebranding of Columbia, these stories are monuments to history and culture. Let’s take a stroll through academia’s memory lane and uncover the origins of these storied university names!

Image: Clay Banks

Ah, Harvard! The Ivy League giant was once a small college in the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlement called New Towne. But where did "Harvard" come from?

Enter John Harvard, a clergyman who, in 1638, decided to bequeath half his estate and his library (a whopping 400 books!) to the fledgling college. Grateful for this generous gift, they promptly named the institution after him.

Image: Richard Liu

A gem of New Haven, Connecticut, Yale is another Ivy League powerhouse known for its prestigious law and drama schools.

It owes its name to Elihu Yale, a wealthy merchant who, in 1718, donated a modest shipment of goods (including portraits, books, and textiles) to a struggling collegiate school. Those goods were auctioned off, raising a much-needed £562 –a small fortune at the time.

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This New Jersey Ivy Leaguer, famous for its stunning Gothic architecture and strong emphasis on undergraduate education, has a bit of a nomadic past. Originally called the College of New Jersey, the educational institution moved around and changed names over the decades.

Eventually, it settled in Princeton, and became popularly referred to as "Prince-town’s College." However, the name wasn’t formally adopted until 1896.

Image: Ariel Tang

In the urban jungle of New York City, Columbia University boasts a vibrant campus life and a reputation for academic excellence. But did you know it was once known by a less-than-patriotic name?

It was founded in 1754 as King's College, which became a bit awkward after the revolution. It was then renamed Columbia College, "Columbia" being a poetic name for the new, independent country that was America at the time.

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Dartmouth is renowned for its beautiful rural setting, nestled in the picturesque town of Hanover, New Hampshire. It was named after the Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, a British nobleman who supported the college's founding –despite never actually setting foot in America!

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This Rhode Island Ivy, known for its open curriculum and emphasis on student choice, was founded with a mouthful of a name – the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

It was renamed in 1704 for Nicholas Brown, Jr., a prominent merchant whose family donated generously to the school.

Image: Emily Xie

Perched atop a hill overlooking Ithaca, New York, Cornell is celebrated for its diverse academic programs and its stunning natural surroundings.

Founded by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, this university was unique for its commitment to practical education, allowing students the freedom to choose their own course of study. It was a revolutionary notion at the time, which would guide a curricular reform across the country.

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Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford is renowned for its entrepreneurial spirit and its close ties to the tech industry. But this California powerhouse has a touching origin story.

Leland Stanford, Jr., the founder's son, tragically died young from typhoid fever. His father Leland Sr., railroad magnate and former state governor, and his mother Jane, founded the university in his memory, ensuring his legacy lived on through the pursuit of knowledge.

Image: Charles Givens

This North Carolina research giant, known for its strong medical and law schools, underwent a bit of a name change in its history.

Originally called Trinity College, it was renamed Duke University in 1924 after James Buchanan Duke, a tobacco and electric power industrialist who founded the American Tobacco Company. He established The Duke Endowment, to which he donated throughout his life and left half his estate after his death.

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Nestled in Nashville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt is a renowned research university with a vibrant campus life. It owes its name to "The Commodore," Cornelius Vanderbilt, a shipping and railroad magnate, who provided the initial gift to establish the university.

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Texas businessman William Marsh Rice provided the initial funding for this Houston university, but did not live to see its opening. He was murdered by his valet as he slept, in a plot to forge the man’s will.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances, Rice University flourished through the years, becoming an institution known for its strong engineering and science programs.

Image: Greg Campbell

"USC" is a sprawling campus known for its film school and its Trojan spirit. It was founded by Robert Maclay Widney, a judge who envisioned a university that would serve the growing area. Back then it was only an expanding frontier town, which would evolve to become the city of Los Angeles.

SHINING FACTS

Ten Mind-Blowing Facts About Light That Will Illuminate Your Mind

Image: Tim Mossholder

Without light, there would be nothing - or at least we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. A form of electromagnetic radiation that we evolved to perceive through our eyes, light is as mysterious a phenomenon as it is universal.

Delve with us into these 10 intriguing facts about light that will enlighten your mind and spark your curiosity.

Image: Mathew Schwartz

Light constantly refuses to behave as we expect it to. Defying classification, it can exhibit characteristics of both particles and waves, a concept known as wave-particle duality. The famous double-slit experiment is one of the best demonstrations of this weird phenomenon, which seems to challenge our understanding of the fundamental nature of our reality.

Image: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Public domain

Light sails are devices that harness the power of photons from sunlight or directed lasers to propel spacecraft. These sails utilize the momentum generated by photons striking their reflective surfaces, providing a potential means for interstellar travel without the need for conventional fuel. Although the phenomenon was known for centuries - even Johannes Kepler suggested that it could be exploited to navigate the void of space - it was successfully demonstrated for the first time in 2010 by the IKAROS experimental spacecraft.

Image: Artem Bryzgalov

Lasers, short for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation," are concentrated beams of coherent light with numerous practical applications. From cutting-edge technologies like laser surgery and laser printing to everyday devices like barcode scanners and DVD players, lasers have revolutionized various industries since their invention in the 60s.

Image: Kaleb Nimz

While the speed of light in a vacuum (about 186,282 miles per second) is considered a universal physical constant, it can still vary wildly when passing through different mediums. For instance, light slows down when passing through transparent substances such as water or glass, which is why objects underwater appear distorted.

Image: Joshua Harris

When light interacts with matter, it can be absorbed, causing the material to heat up. However, some materials can also emit some of this residual energy as light when excited by an external energy source. This phenomenon, known as fluorescence, is observed in all sorts of natural materials and even in some living organisms.

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Cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) is the oldest light in the universe, dating back to just 380,000 years after the Big Bang. While you can't see the CMB with your naked eye, its faint glow permeates the cosmos and provides crucial insights into the early universe's structure and composition. To appreciate it, scientists have to tune into the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Image: Lawrence Chismorie

Light is extensively used in medicine, and for a wide range of applications. Phototherapy, the therapeutic use of light, has been employed for centuries to treat various medical conditions. From UV light for skin disorders to laser therapy for surgical procedures, light-based treatments are way more common than you would think.

Image: Bjschellenberg, CC BY-SA 4.0

Optical trapping, or laser tweezers, is a technique that uses super-focused laser beams to trap and manipulate microscopic particles. This groundbreaking method has a myriad of applications in both physics and biological research, allowing scientists to study individual cells or molecules with unprecedented precision.

Image: Ethan Robertson

Polarized light waves vibrate in a specific orientation, filtering out light waves oscillating in other directions. This property is harnessed in polarized sunglasses to reduce glare and improve visibility. Additionally, polarized light plays a vital role in technologies such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and can be even used for orientation in navigation. In fact, some researchers believe that Vikings made use of a polarizing device (a "sunstone") to find the location of the sun even in a completely overcast sky.

Image: Denny Müller

Where would we be without optical fiber? Not on the Internet, most likely. These flexible strands of glass or plastic allow us to transmit light signals over long distances with minimal loss of signal quality, and they form the backbone of modern telecommunications networks, allowing for rapid and efficient communication across the globe. Also, optical fibers play a crucial role in medical imaging techniques like endoscopy, providing minimally invasive means of visualizing internal structures within the human body.