As we mark 130 years of leadership in education, research, patient care, and public service, we celebrate the generosity of these visionary philanthropists. We also celebrate our loyal partners-the many alumni, friends, foundations, and corporations whose gifts, large and small, have contributed to the greatness that is Johns Hopkins.

1876
Johns Hopkins opens as America's first research university through the generosity of merchant Johns Hopkins, whose bequest of $7 million creates the university and hospital that bear his name. His is the largest single act of private philanthropy in the United States up to that time.

Mr. Hopkins had been inspired by the example of his good friend, financier George Peabody. Both likely would have been pleased that the Peabody Conservatory, founded in 1857 as America's first conservatory of music, became part of the University in 1977.

1890
Philanthropist Mary Elizabeth Garrett and others agree to raise the $500,000 endowment needed to establish the School of Medicine, one the condition that it aspire to the highest academic standards and admit women on the same terms as men.

1912
Thanks to funding from the State of Maryland, Johns Hopkins opens its School of Engineering.

1916
The John D. Rockefeller Foundation provides funds to establish a school of hygiene. The School of Hygiene and Public Health – the first in the United States – opens two years later.

1917
Lights blazed from the Homewood campus as evening business and technical courses are added to the Part-time College Courses for Teachers program, first offered in 1909 and the precursor to today's School of Professional Studies. The expanded offerings are underwritten by friends of the University.

1943
Under the leadership of statesmen Paul H. Nitze and Christian A. Herter, the Foreign Service Educational Foundation creates what is now the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, which became a University division in 1950.

1979
The estate of engineer and contractor George William Carlyle Whiting is instrumental in re-establishing a separate engineering school. The Whiting School of Engineering becomes the University's first named division.

1983
Nursing graduates help establish the School of Nursing as a University division through the M. Adelaide Nutting Fund, named for the early head of nurses' training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

1992
Businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist Zanvyl Krieger commits $50 million for endowment at the School of Arts and Sciences, the largest in Johns Hopkins history up to the time. Three years later the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences is named in honor of the 1928 graduate.

1994
R. Champlin and Debbie Sheridan pledge $20 million for endowment, renovations, and technology at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, whose collections are now named for them. A 1952 Arts and Sciences graduate, Mr. Sheridan led one of the United States' leading scientific and medical printing companies.

1995
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation pledges $20 million to the Johns Hopkins Hospital for construction of the cancer treatment center that now bears the Weinberg's name. This remains the largest single gift ever to the Hospital.

1995
Hopkins alumni and trustee Michael R. Bloomberg commits $55 million to benefit every area of the University, as well as the Hospital. Three years later he pledges an additional $45 million, largely for student financial aid.

1996
Lenox and Frances Watt Baker endow the School of Medicine deanship, the first endowed at Johns Hopkins.

1998
The Whitaker Foundation helps to create the Whitaker Institute for Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins with a $17 million grant. A $10 million gift from trustee A. James Clark supports construction of Clark Hall on the Homewood campus, home to the Whitaker Institute.

1999
Trustee Barclay Knapp commits $10 million to endow the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences deanship.

1999
The family of George L. Bunting Jr. and the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation each announce $10 million commitments for the cancer research building.

1999
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation commits $20 million to the School of Public Health to launch an initiative in the training of family planning and reproductive health professionals in developing countries.

1999
The School of Continuing Studies' downtown center gets a major boost from Helen M. and E. Magruder (Mac) Passano Jr., both graduates of the School.

1999
The Hodson Trust pledges $13 million for construction of Hodson Hall, a multi-use academic building on the Homewood campus.

1999
Marion I. Knott commits $10 million to endow directorships in cancer and medical genetics at the School of Medicine.

2000
The School of Public Health receives two grants totaling $44.9 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: $21.4 million to support measles vaccine research and $23.5 million to support research on vitamins and other micronutrients.

2001
In recognition of his unprecedented commitment of leadership and financial support to the School of Public Health and the entire University, the Bloomberg School of Public Health is named in honor of Michael R. Bloomberg, a 1964 Johns Hopkins engineering graduate and past chairman of the University's Board of Trustees. Now mayor of New York City, he founded a worldwide business news and information company.

2001
With a $100 million gift from an anonymous donor, the Bloomberg School of Public Health launches the Johns Hopkins Malaria Institute and an all-out effort to rid the world of this scourge.

2001
The School of Medicine establishes the Institute for Cell Engineering with $58.5 million from an anonymous donor.

2001
Sidney Kimmel makes Johns Hopkins history with his commitment of $150 million for cancer research and clinical care. The Johns Hopkins cancer center is named the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Mr. Kimmel is the founder and chairman of Jones Apparel Group; a partner in the restaurant and catering business Cipriani International; and a part owner of the Miami Heat basketball team.

2002
The Berman Institute of Bioethics, with a $9.9 million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, establishes the Genetics and Public Policy Center. The gift is the largest in the Institute's history.