"Harvard University is an exclusive Ivy Organization research study college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with about 6,800 undergraduate students and about 14,000 postgraduate pupils. Established in 1636 and also named for its initial benefactor, clergyman John Harvard, Harvard is the USA' oldest organization of higher discovering as well as one of one of the most respected in the world.

The Massachusetts Great as well as General Court licensed Harvard's starting. In its early years, Harvard University mostly educated Congregational as well as Unitarian clergy, although it has actually never been formally associated with any type of denomination. Its curriculum and also student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, as well as by the 19th century, Harvard had actually emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites. [9] [10] Adhering To the American Civil Battle, Head Of State Charles W. Eliot's lengthy tenure (1869-- 1909) transformed the university as well as affiliated professional colleges into a modern research university; Harvard was an establishing member of the Association of American Universities in 1900. A. Lawrence Lowell, that did well Eliot, additional reformed the undergraduate curriculum as well as embarked on hostile development of Harvard's land holdings and physical university. James Bryant Conant led the college through the Great Anxiety and also World War II; he began to liberalize admissions after the war.

The university is composed of eleven principal scholastic systems-- 10 faculties and also the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Research-- with schools throughout Greater Boston: its 209-acre (85 ha) initial undergraduate school is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, 3 miles (5 kilometres) northwest of Boston; business college as well as many sports centers, consisting of Harvard Arena, are throughout the Charles River in the Allston area of Boston; as well as the medical, oral, and also public health schools remain in Boston's Longwood Medical Area. Harvard's endowment is valued at $40.9 billion, making it the biggest of any kind of academic institution. While the nominal price of participation is high, the university's endowment enables it to use generous, no-loan financial aid bundles and also utilize need-blind admission. The Harvard Library is the world's biggest academic collection system, making up 79 individual libraries holding regarding 20.4 million things.

Harvard's graduates consist of 8 U.S. presidents, greater than 30 foreign presidents, 188 living billionaires, 369 Rhodes Scholars, and 252 Marshall Scholars. As of March 2020, 160 Nobel laureates, 18 Fields Medalists, and also 14 Turing Honor winners have been affiliated as trainees, professors, or researchers. Furthermore, Harvard pupils and also alumni have won 10 Academy Honors, 48 Pulitzer Prizes, as well as 108 Olympic medals (46 gold, 41 silver, and 21 bronze), and established many noteworthy firms worldwide."