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Revision as of 22:17, 12 October 2002 by 128.135.137.80 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The University of Chicago is among the most well-respected universities in the world. It is recognized, with Stanford University, Notre Dame University, MIT, CalTech, and Rice University as a de facto Ivy League school. A degree from the University of Chicago is considered equal to the highest caliber of education available anywhere in the world. Liberal-Arts schools of similar caliber include Reed, Carelton, Swarthmore, and the Seven Sisters. The graduate schools of Jurisprudence, Business, and Economics, and the undergraduate departments of Sociology, Linguistics, Political Philosophy, International Studies, Economics, Education, and Physics are considered the best in the country.
The school was founded in 1890 with heavy support from John D. Rockefeller (of Standard Oil). Persons affiliated with the University have obtained a total of seventy-three Nobel Prizes, the most by any institution in the world. Famous alumni include astronomer Carl Sagan (AB, PhD), poet Mark Strand, and biologist James Watson.
The school's more important contributions to science include the 1909 Millikan Oil Drop experiment, which determined the charge of the electron; the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction, carried out by Enrico Fermi and his colleagues as part of the Manhattan Project on December 2, 1942; and the Miller-Urey experiment (Miller experiment), considered to be the classic experiment on the origin of life.
The school's sports teams are called the Maroons. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and in the University Athletic Association. At one time, the University of Chicago's football teams were among the best in the country, but the school, once a member of the Big Ten Conference, de-emphasized varsity athletics in 1939. In 1935, Chicago's Jay Berwanger was the winner of the first-ever Heisman Trophy.
The university publishes The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the definitive guide to American English usage.
Its current president is Don Michael Randel.
External Links
http://www.uchicago.edu -- U of C website