University of Wisconsin

:For the University of Wisconsin system, see University of Wisconsin System.

History

The university had its official beginnings when Wisconsin was incorporated as a state in 1848. Article X, Section B of the state constitution provided for "the establishment of a state university, at or near the seat of state government..." On July 26 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin's first governor, signed the act that formally created the University of Wisconsin. The board of regents held their initial meeting in the library room of the capitol on October 7, and provided John W. Sterling a $500 per-annum salary to become the university's first professor (mathematics). The first class of 17 students met in a Madison school building on February 5, 1849.

Related Topics:
1848 - July 26 - Nelson Dewey - Governor - October 7 - February 5 - 1849

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Regents continued to discuss the contruction of the university and soon a campus site was selected. It comprised a 50 acre (200,000 m²) tract of land "bounded north by Fourth lake, east by a street to be opened at right angles with King street, south by Mineral Point Road , and west by a carriage-way from said road to the lake." Building plans called for a "main edifice fronting towards the Capitol, three stories high, surmounted by an observatory for astronomical observations." This building, University Hall, now known as Bascom Hall, was finally completed in 1859. A fire later destroyed the building's dome, which was never replaced. North Hall, constructed in 1851, was actually the campus's first building. Finally, in 1854, Levi Booth and Charles T. Wakeley became the first graduates of the university. Academics continued to improve at Wisconsin, and in 1892 the university awarded its first Ph.D. to future university president Charles R. Van Hise.

Related Topics:
Bascom Hall - 1859 - 1851 - 1854 - 1892 - Ph.D. - Charles R. Van Hise

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In the years 1966 through 1970, the University of Wisconsin was shaken by a series of student protests, and by the use of force by authorities in response. The first major demonstrations protested the presence on campus of recruiters for the Dow Chemical Company, which supplied the napalm used in the Vietnam War. Another target of protest was the Army Mathematics Research Center (AMRC), clearly identified and centrally located on campus in the Sterling Hall physics building. Director J. Barkley Rosser, an eminent logician, publicly minimized any practical role and implied that AMRC pursued only pure mathematics. But the student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, obtained quarterly reports that AMRC submitted to the Army. The Cardinal published a series of investigative articles making a convincing case that AMRC was pursuing research that was directly pursuant to specific US Department of Defense requests, and relevant to counterinsurgency operations in Vietnam. AMRC became a magnet for demonstrations, in which protesters chanted "U.S. out of Vietnam! Smash Army Math!"

Related Topics:
1966 - 1970 - Protest - Dow Chemical - Napalm - Vietnam War - J. Barkley Rosser - Logic - Mathematics - The Daily Cardinal - Army - US Department of Defense

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On August 24, 1970, near 3:40 a.m. a van filled with ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mixture was detonated next to Sterling Hall. Despite the late night detonation, the explosion killed a physics researcher named Robert Fassnacht. Ironically, the physics department was hit worse than the intended target, the AMRC. Those responsible for the act of terrorism were Karlton Armstrong, Dwight Armstrong, David Fine, and Leo Burt. Leo Burt has never been found.

Related Topics:
1970 - Robert Fassnacht - Terrorism - Karlton Armstrong

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The Badger Herald was founded in 1969, debuting as a conservative voice on campus. Born to cover and combat the turmoil of the Vietnam protests, the Herald maintains its maverick spirit, though it has shed the ?conservative? reputation. The University of Wisconsin is to this day the only major American university with two daily student newspapers.

Related Topics:
The Badger Herald - 1969

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Other notable historical moments in Wisconsin's first century include:

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• On April 4, 1892, the campus's first student-run newspaper began publishing. Today, The Daily Cardinal is the oldest student-run campus newspaper.
• 1898 saw UW music instructor Henry Dyke Sleeper write Varsity, the university?s traditional alma mater song.
• The Wisconsin Union was founded in 1907, second only to Harvard's among U.S. universities.
• William Purdy and Carl Beck wrote On, Wisconsin in 1909, which became the fight song for UW athletic teams.
• In 1925, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation was chartered to control patenting and patent income on UW inventions.
• The UW Arboretum dedicated itself to restoring lost landscapes, such as prairies, in 1934.
• 1966 through 1970, the University of Wisconsin was shaken by a series of student protests, and by the use of force by authorities in response. The first major demonstrations protested the presence on campus of recruiters for the Dow Chemical Company, which supplied the napalm used in the Vietnam War.
• 1969 The Badger Herald was founded, debuting as a conservative voice on campus. Born to cover and combat the turmoil of the Vietnam protests, the Herald maintains its maverick spirit, though it has shed the ?conservative? reputation. The University of Wisconsin is to this day the only major American university with two daily student newspapers.
• 1970 In one of the first major acts of modern terrorism, a bomb exploded outside the Sterling Hall physics building.

:Sub article: Sterling Hall bombing

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