17 июля 1754 года учредили университет в Нью-Йорке

In the early 18th century, the New Yorkers decided to catch up and overtake their neighbors from other states having universities. After half a century of debates, they held a lottery, raised money and established a board of trustees. Finally, in 1754, King George II of Great Britain signed a royal charter to establish the King’s College in New York. On July 17, of the same year, the college’s first president, Samuel Johnson delivered the first lecture to the class of the first eight students. And everything went on in full accordance with the motto: “In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen (In Thy light shall we see light).” When America became an independent nation, the college was named Columbia College and then transformed into the university. Today, the nation’s fifth university belongs to the prestigious Ivy League and has a strong reputation of being the Alma Mater for men of action. Among its famous graduates are former U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, while Dwight Eisenhower served as the president of Columbia University before he was elected the U.S. President. Columbia University is also proud of its graduates who became scientists, as the university has as many as 54 Nobel Prize winners.