Education

On March 21, 1826, the Rensselaer School was incorporated in Troy, New York.  Later named the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, it’s considered the oldest continuously operating technological college in America and the English-speaking world.

Fred McFeely Rogers was born on March 20, 1928, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Hosting Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for over 30 years, he helped transform children’s television.

Botanist and inventor George Washington Carver died on January 5, 1943, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Carver worked to help poor Southern farmers and is most famous for developing more than 300 uses for peanuts, earning the nickname, “Peanut Man.”

On December 13, 1769, Dartmouth College received its charter.  It was the ninth and final college established in America under colonial rule and has become one of the country’s most prestigious universities.

Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was born on September 28, 1839, in Churchville, New York. She was a leading figure in the temperance and women’s suffrage movements in the late 1800s, though she wouldn’t live to see the passage of the 18th and 19th Amendments that achieved her goals.

Severo Ochoa de Albornoz was born on September 24, 1905, in Luarca, Spain. Ochoa researched how cells build proteins like RNA, which earned him the Nobel Prize in 1956.

Missionary Frank Charles Laubach was born on September 2, 1884, in Benton, Pennsylvania.  He dedicated his life to teaching people around the world to read, visiting more than 100 countries and developing books for 312 different languages.

On July 2, 1862, the Morrill Act was signed into law, promoting a new direction for American education. The act encouraged the creation of land-grant colleges that offered study in agriculture, science, and engineering.

On December 26, 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts was founded – the first and oldest art museum and art school in the country.  The Academy was the brainchild of artist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor Benjamin Rush, and other artists and businessmen.