United States · Q13371
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 by the colonial legislature as New College, it was later renamed after benefactor John Harvard. Under President Charles William Eliot in the 19th century, the institution evolved into a modern research university with multiple professional schools. The university currently comprises ten academic faculties and a faculty attached to the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Its campuses are situated in Harvard Yard in Cambridge, the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, and the Allston neighborhood.
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About the university
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 as New College, and later named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Its influence, wealth, and rankings have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Examples include:
Harvard was founded and authorized by the Massachusetts General Court, the governing legislature of colonial-era Massachusetts Bay Colony. While never formally affiliated with any Protestant denomination, Harvard trained Congregational clergy until its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized in the 18th century. By the 19th century, Harvard had emerged as the most prominent academic and cultural institution among the Boston elite. Following the American Civil War, under Harvard president Charles William Eliot's long tenure from 1869 to 1909, Harvard developed multiple professional schools, which transformed it into a modern research university. In 1900, Harvard co-founded the Association of American Universities. James B. Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II, and liberalized admissions after the war.
More history, academics and campus information
The university has ten academic faculties and a faculty attached to Harvard Radcliffe Institute. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences offers study in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate academic disciplines, and other faculties offer graduate degrees, including professional degrees. Harvard has three campuses: the main campus, a 209 acre in Cambridge centered on Harvard Yard; an adjoining campus immediately across Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston; and the medical campus in Boston's Longwood Medical Area. Harvard's endowment, valued at US$53.2 billion, makes it the wealthiest academic institution in the world. Harvard Library, with more than 20 million volumes, is the world's largest academic library.
Harvard alumni, faculty, and researchers include 188 living billionaires, 8 U.S. presidents, 24 heads of state and 31 heads of government, founders of notable companies, Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, members of Congress, MacArthur Fellows, Rhodes Scholars, Marshall Scholars, Turing Award Recipients, Pulitzer Prize recipients, and Fulbright Scholars; by most metrics, Harvard University ranks among the top universities in the world in each of these categories. Universities adopt different metrics to claim Nobel or other academic award affiliates, some generous while others more stringent. * Harvard students and alumni have also collectively won 10 Academy Awards and 110 Olympic medals, including 46 gold medals. * Harvard students and alumni have also collectively won 10 Academy Awards and 110 Olympic medals, including 46 gold medals. * Harvard students and alumni have also collectively won 10 Academy Awards and 110 Olympic medals, including 46 gold medals. * Harvard students and alumni have also collectively won 10 Academy Awards and 110 Olympic medals, including 46 gold medals. * Harvard students and alumni have also collectively won 10 Academy Awards and 110 Olympic medals, including 46 gold medals. * Harvard students and alumni have also collectively won 10 Academy Awards and 110 Olympic medals, including 46 gold medals.
Harvard was founded in 1636 by a vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Its first headmaster, Nathaniel Eaton, took office the following year. In 1638, the university acquired English North America's first known printing press. The same year, on his deathbed, John Harvard, a Puritan clergyman who had emigrated to the colony from England, bequeathed the emerging college £780 and his library of some 320 volumes; the following year, it was named Harvard College.
Source: encyclopedia snapshot 20251201, with the original dates and perspectives retained. Visit the university’s official website for current information. Source and revision history ↗ · CC BY-SA
US campus safety & student outcomes
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University & campus facts
View Wikipedia source ↗- Established
October 28, 1636 An appropriation of £400 toward a "school or college" was voted on October 28, 1636… More
October 28, 1636 An appropriation of £400 toward a "school or college" was voted on October 28, 1636 (OS), at a meeting which convened on September 8 and was adjourned to October 28. Some sources consider October 28, 1636 (OS) (November 7, 1636, NS) to be the date of founding. Harvard's 1936 tercentenary celebration treated September 18 as the founding date, though its 1836 bicentennial was celebrated on September 8, 1836. Sources: meeting dates,, "At a Court holden September 8th, 1636 and continued by adjournment to the 28th of the 8th month (October, 1636)... the Court agreed to give £400 towards a School or College, whereof £200 to be paid next year...." Tercentenary dates: : "Harvard claims birth on the day the Massachusetts Great and General Court convened to authorize its founding. This was Sept. 8, 1637 under the Julian calendar. Allowing for the ten-day advance of the Gregorian calendar, Tercentenary officials arrived at Sept. 18 as the date for the third and last big Day of the celebration;" "on Oct. 28, 1636 ... £400 for that 'school or college' [was voted by] the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony." Bicentennial date: , "Sept. 8, 1836 – Some 1,100 to 1,300 alumni flock to Harvard's Bicentennial, at which a professional choir premieres "Fair Harvard." ... guest speaker Josiah Quincy Jr., Class of 1821, makes a motion, unanimously adopted, 'that this assembly of the Alumni be adjourned to meet at this place on September 8, 1936.'" Tercentary opening of Quincy's sealed package: The New York Times, September 9, 1936, p. 24, "Package Sealed in 1836 Opened at Harvard. It Held Letters Written at Bicentenary": "September 8th, 1936: As the first formal function in the celebration of Harvard's tercentenary, the Harvard Alumni Association witnessed the opening by President Conant of the 'mysterious' package sealed by President Josiah Quincy at the Harvard bicentennial in 1836."
- Institution type
- Private research university
- Motto
- Veritas (Latin)
- Former names
- New College Harvard College
- Founder
- Massachusetts General Court
- President
- Alan Garber
- Provost
- John F. Manning
- Students
- 21,189 (fall 2024)
More university facts (11)
- Undergraduates
- 7,038 (fall 2024)
- Postgraduates
- 14,151 (fall 2024)
- Academic staff
- ~2,400 faculty members (and >10,400 academic appointments in affiliated teaching hospitals)
- Staff
- 11,000（医学） 2,500（其他）
- Location
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Campus setting
- Midsize city
- Campus size
- 209 acre
- Endowment
- $53.2 billion (2024)
- Affiliations
- AAU · COFHE · NAICU · UArctic · URA · Space-grant
- Accreditation
- NECHE
- Mascot
- John Harvard
Wikipedia snapshot 20251201. Student and financial figures retain their source years; language editions may use different reporting years.
Other rankings recorded in Wikipedia
QS
5
THE
3
ARWU
1
U.S. News
1
These are rankings as recorded in the source snapshot, not live results. Undated entries are not assigned an inferred year.
Academic profile
Site rank 1 · Score 69.03 / 100
Reputation
80.00
Academic
77.92
Funding
20.09
Faculty
1.20
Alumni
80.00
Displayed scores equal source metrics × 100. Site rank applies to the selected universities; original source rank 1 is retained for provenance.
Alumni & peopleExplore ↓
Explore a sample of people with education links to this university. The fixed sample draws from existing records spanning degree study, further study, and other educational experiences; individual links await verification.