Fed up with the formalities of traditional education, Professor Alexander Meikeljohn decided in 1927 to try something new, converting a university residence hall into an "Experimental College." Students took no tests and received no grades, but . . . — — Map (db m31986) HM
The Memorial Union is the university’s premier gathering place, serving as a welcoming living room for the entire campus community. Built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style (1928) with an International style theater wing addition (1939), the . . . — — Map (db m111258) HM
Not long after she was denied permission to perform in the D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., because she was African-American, famous singer Marian Anderson found welcome at the University of Wisconsin. She sang at the Memorial Union in . . . — — Map (db m32697) HM
Through the misfortune of a Wisconsin farmer, biochemist Karl Paul Link and his University of Wisconsin associates were handed the keys to discovery of anticlotting factors. Farmer Ed Carlson in February 1933 brought to Link sweet clover hay that he . . . — — Map (db m115517) HM
By feeding diets of single grains to sixteen dairy heifers, University of Wisconsin scientists under the direction of biochemist E.B. Hart in 1907 set the stage for the discovery of vitamins and essential trace minerals. These feeding experiments . . . — — Map (db m32356) HM
In 1913 University of Wisconsin biochemist Elmer V. McCollum and associates used rats to conduct nutritional studies that led to the discovery of vitamin A in butterfat and cod liver oil. In 1917 his group discovered vitamin B complex in milk whey. . . . — — Map (db m57103) HM
At the end of the 19th century, a fungal infection called cabbage yellows threatened the entire Wisconsin cabbage crop. University of Wisconsin plant pathologist John C. Walker solved the problem by developing strains of cabbage resistant to the . . . — — Map (db m32398) HM
Pellagra once was a widespread and often fatal disease that was particularly common where corn was a dietary staple. In 1938, University of Wisconsin biochemists Conrad Elvehjem and Frank Strong isolated and identified the B vitamin, niacin, and . . . — — Map (db m57097) HM
Biochemist Har Gobind Khorana shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1968 for research that was essential to understanding how DNA is translated into proteins. His work at the Institute for Enzyme Research completed the puzzle of which . . . — — Map (db m57017) HM
A milestone in modern dairying was the development of a simple and accurate measure of the butterfat content of milk. University of Wisconsin biochemist Stephen M. Babcock in 1890 developed the test that made him internationally famous and . . . — — Map (db m32385) HM
The modern discipline of agricultural and applied economics owes much to University of Wisconsin scholars Henry C. Taylor and Benjamin H. Hibbard for their seminal work on the economic, political, and social meaning of land ownership. Agricultural . . . — — Map (db m32806) HM
University of Wisconsin geneticist R.A. Brink brought hybrid corn to Wisconsin, releasing the state's first hybrid for production in 1933. Eight years later ninety percent of Wisconsin corn was hybrid. Soon the yield per acre was tripled. Brink also . . . — — Map (db m32396) HM
In 1961, more than 100 University of Wisconsin students and graduates applied to spend two years volunteering in some of the world's neediest countries as part of a new program known as the Peace Corps. Their participation began a long relationship . . . — — Map (db m31951) HM
The University of Wisconsin's setting along the shores of Lake Mendota made it a natural place to found the study of lakes in North America. But advances in limnology, which was first studied here in the 1880s, are only one aspect of a long legacy . . . — — Map (db m33646) HM
During World War II countless lives were saved through the use of the antibiotic penicillin, a natural product of a mold. However, the drug became widely available only after a method was developed to mass-produce it from a selected and genetically . . . — — Map (db m32572) HM
Surrounded by the natural beauty of this campus, a student named John Muir developed a love of the outdoors that would touch not only his own life, but those of future generations. Muir left the University of Wisconsin in 1863 and became one of the . . . — — Map (db m37696) HM
In 1919, a group of students and professors gathered in the basement of Sterling Hall to transmit some of the earliest educational programming over the airwaves. Their regular broadcasts became the foundation of WHA, one of the oldest radio stations . . . — — Map (db m31987) HM
Geneticist Joshua Lederberg was the first University of Wisconsin faculty member to receive the Nobel Prize. His discovery of conjugation in bacterial cells was a milestone in biology and ushered in the new field of bacterial genetics. Soon, the . . . — — Map (db m57031) HM
While a University of Wisconsin genetics professor from 1960 to 1988, Oliver Smithies pioneered the targeted genetic modification of mouse embryonic stem cells. This discovery led to the development of "knockout" mice, which became an indispensable . . . — — Map (db m32580) HM
In regions distant from oceans, goiter once was a common disease of humans and animals. Goiter, manifested through an enlarged thyroid gland, is caused by a deficiency of iodine in the diet. University of Wisconsin biochemists Edwin B. Hart and . . . — — Map (db m32395) HM
University of Wisconsin students traditionally have been active in political and social causes, and that was never more apparent than during the turbulent 1960s. During that time, students frequently led rallies and demonstrations, many of which . . . — — Map (db m31761) HM
Techniques of assisted reproduction, particularly of cattle, have revolutionized animal breeding practices worldwide. University of Wisconsin biochemists Henry Lardy and Paul Phillips developed methods for dilution and long-term preservation of . . . — — Map (db m57143) HM
In 1893 the College of Agriculture's emerging science-based approach to agriculture was emphatically demonstrated to farmers and Wisconsin citizens by the postmortem verification of a tuberculosis test for cattle. Organized by University of . . . — — Map (db m32260) HM
The Social Security system that became a cornerstone of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was written by University of Wisconsin economist Edwin Witte, who served as an advisor to Roosevelt. Witte drew from deep Wisconsin roots. He based the new . . . — — Map (db m31953) HM
At the end of the nineteenth century, one of the most popular classes at the University of Wisconsin was Frederick Jackson Turner's course on the American frontier. In those lectures, Turner shared beliefs about our nation's history that would help . . . — — Map (db m31989) HM
When the University of Wisconsin started the country's first college dance program in 1926, the goal was to teach more than dance. The program's founder, Margaret H'Doubler, wanted the women's physical education program to be "worth a college . . . — — Map (db m37730) HM
The ideas of University of Wisconsin ecologist Aldo Leopold provided the intellectual and philosophical foundation for the discipline of wildlife ecology. His 1948 book of essays, A Sand County Almanac, gave form and voice to the land ethic that . . . — — Map (db m32397) HM
As president of the University of Wisconsin from 1903 to 1918, Charles Van Hise championed a mission of public service that became known as the Wisconsin Idea. Calling for professors to share the wealth of their teaching and research, Van Hise . . . — — Map (db m32505) HM
Biochemists in the 1920s conducted studies leading to improved understanding of the roles of minerals in animal and human diets. University of Wisconsin biochemists E.B. Hart, C.A. Elvehjem, and Harry Steenbock discovered that copper, in addition to . . . — — Map (db m57046) HM
In the mid-1940s University of Wisconsin geneticist Ray Owen noticed a surprising fact about non-identical cattle twins. Each twin had two kinds of blood cells, its own and those of its twin. In ordinary transfusions, such mixing of blood cells . . . — — Map (db m32807) HM
The discovery of how to produce vitamin D stands as a critical event in the history of vitamin research. In 1924, University of Wisconsin biochemist Harry Steenbock discovered that ultraviolet light converts an inactive material in food to vitamin . . . — — Map (db m57106) HM
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, incorporated in 1925, was created to make the discoveries of University of Wisconsin scientists available to the public. WARF patents return royalties to the University to support new research. The idea to . . . — — Map (db m32805) HM