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Research Accomplishments

  • 1869 – First laboratory class for botany students in America
  • 1876 – Nation's oldest soil fertility plots, the Morrow Plots, established
  • 1881 – First evidence of bacteria causing plant disease discovered by T.J. Burrill
  • 1898 – First hydraulic-type railway dynamometer test car
  • 1903 – First Engineering Experiment Station in America
  • 1907 – First legislative grant by any state specifically for graduate study
  • 1910 – First marching band to spell words and perform intricate maneuvers while playing
  • 1922 – First sound-on-film movies created by J.T. Tykociner
  • 1924 – First house designated specifically for home-heating research built
  • 1935 – Discovery of the essential amino acid threonine
  • 1944 – One of the first of its kind in the nation, the Physical Fitness Research Laboratory was established at the U of I
  • 1945 – Dedication of the world's largest university airport
  • 1952 – The digital computer laboratory of the University of Illinois developed Illiac I, the first digital computer built and owned entirely by an educational institution. It weighed five tons and contained 2,800 vacuum tubes.
  • 1954 – Development of two new kinds of synthetic rubber for heavy-duty truck and airplane tires
  • 1956 – The "Illiac Suite," the first substantial computer-produced musical composition, premiered on the U of I campus.
  • 1962 – Completion of Assembly Hall, the world's largest edge-supported dome
  • 1962 – Development of the method by which x-ray motion pictures could be viewed with depth and perception on a screen as still pictures
  • 1971 – First marching band in the Big Ten to admit women
  • 1976 – First operational talking computer in the U.S. for the blind
  • 1977 – Development of the Quantum well laser, the principle component in compact disc players
  • 1977 – Discovery that a group of microorganisms, now known as Archaea, are a third form of life
  • 1990 – Invention of electronic mail program Eudora
  • 1993 – Development of Mosaic, the first browser for the World Wide Web, at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
  • 1996 – Discovery of a processing method used to extend the life of a silicon microchip as much as 50 times
  • 1997 – Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets (CSAR) is established
  • 2001 – Researchers at the University of Illinois developed a synthetic material that can heal itself when cracked or broken
  • 2003 – Creation of a "smart brick", which is a brick with a sensor that can monitor temperature, vibration, and movement throughout a building and can relay the information to a remote operator.