Stanford University (SU) is a private research university located in Stanford, California. Founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, the university was opened on October 1, 1891 as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. Stanford University struggled financially after the death of Leland Stanford in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, Provost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates’ entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would later be known as Silicon Valley. The university is also one of the top fundraising institutions in the country, becoming the first school to raise more than a billion dollars in a year.
As of 2019, 13 Nobel laureates and 30 MacArthur Fellows have been affiliated with SU as students, researchers, or faculty. In addition, Stanford has produced a total of 385 Rhodes Scholars and Marshall Scholars. 36 Turing Award laureates have been affiliated with SU as alumni, faculty or researchers. 2 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with SU as either alumni or faculty members. SU is also tied for second most billionaire alumni out of all universities worldwide (behind Harvard University). According to Thomson Reuters rankings released in 2018 (based on 2017 data), SU is ranked 4th globally for both reputation & research impact across all fields combined while being ranked 3rd among U.S.-based institutions for overall reputation & 6th among U.S.-based institutions for research impact; it is also ranked 1st globally within Computer Science & Economics/Business while being ranked 2nd overall within Engineering & 3rd overall within Medicine