Category: Hopkins History
Why Einstein Didn’t Join the JHU Faculty
April 30, 2007
The publication of a new book, Einstein: His Life and Universe (Walter Isaacson; Simon & Schuster), brings to mind a brief flirtation that Johns Hopkins had with two internationally acclaimed physicists 80 years ago. They were professors Albert Einstein, who was doing research in Berlin, and E. Schrodinger, who was in Zurich.
Commemoration Day: An Occasion to Celebrate
February 19, 2007
Each February, as days begin to grow longer and the prospect of spring seems closer, many older members of the Johns Hopkins family remember fondly the years when Commemoration Day was a major event in the university’s academic year.
Police Escorts: Now and Then
February 12, 2007
A recent headline in The Baltimore Sun, “Police Escorts at BWI to End for Celebrities,” prompted a recollection of a police-escorted ride, at breakneck speeds, from the airport to Homewood more than 40 years ago.
The Case of the Vanishing Student
December 18, 2006
Immigration issues have captured the interest of government leaders and citizens alike as bills related to the subject are debated in Congress.
Hopkins History: When Air Raids Were a Threat
June 26, 2006
Terrorism, which trips off the tongue so easily these days, had a forerunner in World War II: the prospect of air raids on American cities. And Johns Hopkins was prepared to respond.
The Blue Jays’ First Baseball Diamond
February 27, 2006
Anyone looking out a window on the south side of Garland Hall on the Homewood campus these days will see nothing but construction workers, heavy equipment and a huge hole in the ground.
Rachel Carson, Marine Biologist and Writer
February 5, 2001
In September 1962, a book was published that would have a profound impact on conservation policy and the public’s attitude toward the environment. The book was Silent Spring and its author was Rachel Carson. Carson was born in Springdale, Pa., in 1907 and attended the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College). Intending to major in English and composition, she discovered an interest in biology, which led her to Johns Hopkins.
John Broadus Watson: The Father of Behavioral Psychology
January 22, 2001
Hopkins has had many illustrious faculty members in its 125-year history, often world-renowned in their fields. Inevitably, there have been a few who became notorious. One of the most interesting of these characters was psychologist John Broadus Watson. Born in Greenville, S.C., Watson earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1902, studying under Hopkins alumnus John Dewey. In 1908 he came to Hopkins as professor of experimental psychology.
In 1887, Kelly Miller, Son of a Slave, Became a JHU First
January 16, 2001
A young man named Kelly Miller arrived at The Johns Hopkins University in 1887 to begin graduate studies in mathematics. Just 11 years after its founding, Hopkins had already acquired an excellent academic reputation, and Miller had been attracted to Hopkins by the eminent mathematician and faculty member Simon Newcomb. What made Kelly Miller noteworthy, then and now, is the fact that he was the first African-American student to enroll at Hopkins.
Pioneer of Graduate Seminars in U.S.: Herbert Baxter Adams
October 23, 2000
While the six original professors hired by Daniel Coit Gilman formed the nucleus of The Johns Hopkins University in 1876, they were by no means the only faculty hired. Younger faculty appointed in 1876, and thereafter, built on a foundation and oversaw Hopkins’ entrance into the realm of world-renowned universities.