stanford university

Stanford University (officially Leland Stanford Junior University) is a private research university in Stanford, California. It was founded in 1885 by Leland Stanford—a railroad magnate who served as the eighth governor of and then-incumbent senator from California—and his wife, Jane, in memory of their only child, Leland Jr. Stanford has an 8,180-acre (3,310-hectare) campus, among the largest in the nation. It is also frequently ranked amongst the most prestigious and highly respected universities in the world.
The university is organized around seven schools of study on the same campus. It also houses the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank. Students compete in 36 varsity sports, and the university is one of two private institutions in the Pac-12 Conference. Stanford has won 131 NCAA team championships, more than any other university, and was awarded the NACDA Directors' Cup for 25 consecutive years, beginning in 1994. Stanford students and alumni have also won over 296 Olympic medals (including 150 gold).
The university admitted its first students in 1891, opening as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. It struggled financially after Leland's death in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, Frederick Terman, the 2nd university provost, inspired and supported both faculty and graduates entrepreneurialism to build a self-sufficient local industry (Silicon Valley). In 1951, Stanford established Stanford Research Park in Palo Alto which is the world's first university research park. It has been called "the epicenter of Silicon Valley".
Stanford is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". It has also been particularly noted for its entrepreneurial culture and is one of the most successful universities worldwide in attracting funding for start-ups and licensing its inventions to existing companies. Alumni have founded numerous corporations, which combined produce more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue, equivalent to the tenth-largest economy in the world, and provide over 5.4 million jobs. By 2021, the university had 2,288 tenure-line faculty, senior fellows, center fellows, and medical faculty on staff.
Stanford is also the alma mater of several eminent world leaders, including the 31st President of the United States, Herbert Hoover, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, and the incumbent Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The university is also associated with 74 living billionaires, 58 Nobel laureates, 33 MacArthur Fellows, 29 Turing Award winners, as well as 7 Wolf Foundation Prize recipients. Additionally, Stanford is a leading producer nationally of Fulbright Scholars, Marshall Scholars, Gates Cambridge Scholars, Rhodes Scholars, and members of the United States Congress.

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