University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley (also known as Cal, UC Berkeley, The University of California, or simply Berkeley) is a public coeducational university situated east of the San Francisco Bay in Berkeley, California, overlooking the Golden Gate. The oldest and flagship campus of the University of California System, Berkeley is a leading research university. Its graduate programs and faculty are consistently ranked among the best in the world.

History

In 1866, the land which is now the Berkeley campus was first purchased by the private College of California (established by Congregational minister Henry Durant in 1855). However, lacking the funds to operate, the College of California merged with state-run Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College, forming the University of California on March 23, 1868, with Durant becoming the first president. The university first opened in Oakland in 1869. In 1873, with the completion of North and South Halls, the university relocated to the Berkeley campus with 167 men and 222 women students enrolled.

Related Topics:
1866 - 1855 - University of California - March 23 - 1868 - Oakland - 1869 - 1873

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Through the middle decades of the 20th century, the Berkeley campus enjoyed a golden age in the physical, chemical and biological sciences. During that period, with Professor Ernest O. Lawrence's invention of the cyclotron, researchers affiliated with the campus discovered a great number of chemical elements heavier than uranium, the only ones known at that time, garnering a number of Nobel Prizes for these efforts along the way. Two of the elements, Berkelium and Californium, were named in honor of the university. Another two, Lawrencium and Seaborgium, were named in honor of faculty members Ernest O. Lawrence and Glenn T. Seaborg.

Related Topics:
20th century - Ernest O. Lawrence - Cyclotron - Chemical element - Uranium - Nobel Prize - Berkelium - Californium - Lawrencium - Seaborgium - Glenn T. Seaborg

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During World War II, Lawrence's Radiation Laboratory in the hills above Berkeley began to contract with the U.S. Army in efforts to help understand the fundamental science needed to develop the atomic bomb (including the then-secret discovery of plutonium by Seaborg). Physics professor J. Robert Oppenheimer was named scientific head of the Manhattan Project in 1942. The University agreed to manage the project without knowing its purpose the same year, beginning a relationship with the Department of Defense which has endured to the present. Room 307 of Gilman Hall, where Seaborg discovered plutonium, is now a National Historic Landmark. Two other University of California managed labs, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory, were established during this time period.

Related Topics:
World War II - Radiation Laboratory - U.S. Army - Atomic bomb - Plutonium - J. Robert Oppenheimer - Manhattan Project - Department of Defense - National Historic Landmark - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Los Alamos National Laboratory

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During the McCarthy era in 1949, the Board of Regents adopted an anti-communist loyalty oath to be signed by all University of California employees. A number of faculty members firmly took a stand against the oath requirement and were eventually dismissed. They were reinstated with full honor and back-pay ten years later; one of them, Edward C. Tolman — the noted comparative psychologist — now has a building on the campus named after him (it houses the departments of psychology and education). An oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic" is still required by all UC employees.

Related Topics:
McCarthy era - 1949 - Board of Regents - Communist - Edward C. Tolman - Comparative psychologist

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In 1952 the University of California became an entity separate from the Berkeley campus as part of a major restructuring of the UC system, and each campus was given its own Chancellor, and greater autonomy.

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1962 ushered in a new day for people with disabilities when Ed Roberts became a student. He would found the Independent Living movement with other wheelchair users while on campus.

Related Topics:
1962 - Ed Roberts - Independent Living

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The University gained notoriety worldwide nearly a century after its founding for the student body's active protests against United States involvement in the Vietnam War. This period of social unrest on campus could be traced to the Free Speech Movement, which originated on the Berkeley campus in 1964 and inspired the political and moral outlook of a generation.

Related Topics:
United States - Vietnam War - Free Speech Movement - 1964

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Today, the majority of students at UC Berkeley are less politically active than their predecessors and have political opinions similar to students at most other American universities. However, a small number of outspoken radical groups continue to flourish and thrive.

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