Historical milestones

Education and research in science, mathematics, and technology have been an integral part of the University of Minnesota for nearly 150 years. Although IT was founded in 1935, its roots extend to the University's infancy.

1851	U of M founded as a preparatory school
1858	Minnesota becomes 32nd U.S. state
1862	U.S. Congress passes the Morrill Act, which establishes the federal land-grant university system
1869	U of M reorganized as a land-grant university, with math professor and Civil War army engineer William Watts Folwell as its first president
1870	Math department established in the School of Science, Literature, and the Arts
1872	Minnesota Geological Survey established
1874	Geology and geophysics department established
1884	College of Engineering organized
1888	School of Mines established
1889	Physics department established Pillsbury Hall completed
1891	Electrical engineering department established
1892	Astronomy department established
1893	Chemistry department established
1894	Math department established in the College of Engineering
1898	Mechanical engineering department established
1909	Biosystems and agricultural engineering department established
1910	Civil engineering department established
1911	Experimental Engineering Building completed
1912	Main Engineering Building completed (renamed Lind Hall in 1975)
1913	Agricultural Engineering Building completed
1914	Chemistry Building completed (renamed Smith Hall in 1971) First Engineering Day celebrated on St. Patrick's Day; this annual celebration (which eventually became Engineering Week in the 1950s and then IT Week in the 1980s) has been held continuously for nearly 80 years
1918	Minnesota Technolog, IT's student magazine, debuts
1919	Chemical engineering department established
1924	Old Electrical Engineering Building and Main Library completed (library was renamed Walter Library in 1959)
1927	Former faculty member Arthur Compton wins the Nobel Prize in physics
1928	Physics Building completed (renamed Tate Laboratory of Physics in 1965)
1929	Aerospace engineering and mechanics established
1935	Institute of Technology created by consolidating engineering, architecture, mines, and chemistry in one collegiate unit Samuel Lind named the new college's first dean
1938	Vincent Hall and St. Anthony Falls Laboratory completed
1939	Alumnus Ernest Lawrence (Physics '23) wins the Nobel Prize for developing the cyclotron
1940	Professor Alfred O. C. Nier (Electrical Engineering '31) establishes that uranium 235 is responsible for slow fission in uranium
1946	Professor E.W. Davis develops the first of many processes for converting taconite rock into commercial iron ore
1948	Mechanical Engineering Building and Akerman Hall completed
1949	Chemical Engineering Building completed (renamed Amundson Hall in 1970)
1956	Alumnus Walter Brattain (Physics '27), former faculty member John Bardeen, and William Shockley win the Nobel Prize for inventing the transistor
1957	Mines and Metallurgy Building completed (annexed to Amundson Hall in 1970)
1958	Earl Bakken (Electrical Engineering '48) designs the first battery-operated heart pacemaker
1961	Melvin Calvin (Chemistry '35) wins the Nobel Prize for his work in photosynthesis using Carbon 14
1962	President O. Meredith Wilson launches a major University reorganization: College of Science, Literature, and the Arts becomes the College of Liberal Arts Geology and astronomy departments transferred from SLA to IT School of Physics and Astronomy established
1963	Wilson's reorganization continues: mathematics departments from CLA and IT merge, becoming the School of Mathematics in IT
1970	School of Mines and Metallurgy abolished; its programs are transferred to the newly reconfigured departments of chemical engineering and materials science and civil engineering Computer science and engineering department established
1971	Kolthoff Hall completed UNITE Instructional Television debuts
1972	Seymour Cray (Electrical Engineering '49) founds Cray Research and leads development of supercomputers Former faculty member John Bardeen wins his second Nobel prize in physics, for the development of the theory of superconductivity
1975	Astronaut Donald K. “Deke Slayton (Aero '49) commands Apollo-Soyuz space mission
1977	Former faculty member John Van Vleck and two others win the Nobel Prize in physics for contributions to the understanding of the behavior of electrons in magnetic, noncrystalline solid materials.
1983	Civil Engineering Building completed, extending seven stories below ground
1987	Center for the Development of Technological Leadership established
1988	Electrical Engineering/Computer Science Building completed on the site of the old Experimental Engineering Building Newton Horace Winchell School of Earth Sciences dedicated in honor of Winchell, the founder of the Minnesota Geological Survey
1989	School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture separates from IT, becoming the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
1997	Basic Sciences/Biomedical Engineering completed IT Center for Educational Programs established to develop and administer enrichment programs for K-12 students, including the U of M Talented Youth Mathematics Program, established in 1981
1998	Digital Technology Center established UNITE begins offering courses via streaming video over the Internet
2000	Biomedical engineering department established George T. Piercy Molecular Materials Wing of Amundson Hall completed
2001	Alumnus Daniel McFadden (Physics '57, Behavioral Sciences Ph.D. '62) and University of Chicago economist James Heckman earned the Nobel Prize in economics for their contributions to microeconometrics Renovation and expansion of Mechanical Engineering Building completed
2002	Walter Library reopens after a two-year renovation and restoration IT becomes a five percent partner in the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), which will be the most powerful on Earth