Yale University is a private Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1701 and is the third-oldest higher education institution in the United States. It is also one of the nine colonial colleges established before the American Revolution.
Yale was originally named the Collegiate School in 1701 by Congregationalist clergy in the Connecticut Colony. At first, the school taught theology and sacred languages. Over time, its curriculum grew to include subjects such as humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century, Yale expanded to offer graduate and professional education. It awarded the first PhD in the United States in 1861 and became a university in 1887. After 1890, the number of faculty and students increased quickly because of the growth of the campus and its scientific research programs.
Yale is divided into fifteen schools, including the original undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Yale Law School. The university is managed by the Yale Corporation, but each school’s faculty is responsible for its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to its main campus in downtown New Haven, Yale owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, a campus in West Haven, and forests and nature preserves in New England. As of 2025, Yale’s endowment was worth $44.1 billion, making it the third-largest among all educational institutions and the second-largest among private universities. The Yale University Library, which serves all schools, has more than 15 million books and is the third-largest academic library in the United States. Student athletes compete in NCAA Division I Ivy League sports as the Yale Bulldogs.
As of October 2025, 72 Nobel laureates, 5 Fields medalists, 4 Abel Prize winners, and 3 Turing Award winners have been connected to Yale University. Yale alumni include 5 U.S. presidents, 10 Founding Fathers, 19 U.S. Supreme Court justices, 31 living billionaires, 54 college founders and presidents, and many heads of state, cabinet members, and governors. The university also has hundreds of members of Congress, U.S. diplomats, 96 MacArthur Fellows, 263 Rhodes Scholars, 123 Marshall Scholars, 81 Gates Cambridge Scholars, 102 Guggenheim Fellows, and 9 Mitchell Scholars. Current Yale faculty include 73 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 8 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 200 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. More than 170 Yale alumni have competed in the Olympic Games and have won over 110 medals.
History
Yale University began in 1701 with a law passed in New Haven, Connecticut, called "An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School." This law aimed to create a school to train ministers and leaders. Soon after, ten Congregational ministers, all graduates of Harvard University, met to donate books to start the school's library. James Pierpont led this group, now known as "The Founders."
The school, originally called the "Collegiate School," started in the home of Abraham Pierson, who is considered Yale's first president. Pierson lived in Killingworth. In 1703, the school moved to Saybrook after Nathaniel Lynde, Yale's first treasurer, donated land and a building. By 1716, the school moved to New Haven.
At Harvard, a disagreement grew between its sixth president, Increase Mather, and other clergy. Mather believed Harvard was becoming too liberal in its religious practices. This led the Mathers to support the Collegiate School, hoping it would keep Puritan religious traditions. Rev. Jason Haven was considered for a leadership role because of his strong beliefs, but he was not chosen due to poor health.
In 1718, Cotton Mather, a Harvard leader, asked businessman Elihu Yale for help. Yale donated nine bales of goods, worth more than £560, to build a new school building. Cotton Mather suggested renaming the school "Yale College." The name "Yale" comes from the Welsh name Iâl, used for a family estate in Wales.
At the same time, a Harvard graduate in England encouraged 180 intellectuals to donate books to Yale. In 1714, 500 books were sent, including works on literature, science, and philosophy. These books greatly influenced students. One student, Jonathan Edwards, studied John Locke's works and developed new religious ideas. In 1722, a group of students stopped believing in Calvinism and joined the Church of England.
Thomas Clapp became president in 1745 and tried to return the college to Calvinist teachings but kept the library open. Other students found books about Deism in the library.
Yale College students study a wide range of subjects through a system called "residential colleges." Yale was influenced by major intellectual movements, like the Great Awakening and Enlightenment, because of its leaders' interest in religion and science.
Reverend Ezra Stiles, president from 1778 to 1795, required all freshmen to study Hebrew, a language used to read the Old Testament. This is why the phrase "Urim and Thummim" appears on Yale's seal. Stiles helped found Brown University. In 1779, British forces occupied New Haven, but Yale graduate Edmund Fanning, who worked for the British, saved the college. In 1803, Fanning received an honorary degree.
From 1701 to 1823, Yale was the only college in Connecticut and educated the children of wealthy families. Punishable actions included playing cards, visiting taverns, damaging property, and disobeying rules.
The focus on classical studies led to private student groups for discussing ideas. The first groups were debating societies: Crotonia (1738), Linonia (1753), and Brothers in Unity (1768). Linonia and Brothers in Unity still exist today, with their names appearing on campus buildings.
The Yale Report of 1828 strongly supported teaching Latin and Greek, even though some wanted more modern subjects. Unlike European universities, American colleges had no national curriculum. Leaders tried to balance tradition with new ideas. A group of Yale professors and ministers focused on teaching religious values to help students resist temptations from modern ideas like materialism and consumerism.
William Graham Sumner, a professor from 1872 to 1909, taught economics and sociology to many students. He won over President Noah Porter, who preferred classical education. Porter disliked Sumner's use of a textbook by Herbert Spencer, which promoted agnostic materialism.
Until 1887, Yale's official name was "The President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven." In 1887, the Connecticut legislature changed the name to "Yale University."
Nathan Hale, a Revolutionary War soldier and Yale graduate, became a symbol of Yale's ideals in the early 1800s. He was a patriot who died for his country. Western artist Frederic Remington, a Yale graduate, was known for painting scenes of strength and combat.
Administration and organization
The President and Fellows of Yale College, also called the Yale Corporation or board of trustees, is the leadership group of the university. It has thirteen committees with specific duties listed in the by-laws. The corporation includes 19 members: three who hold positions by title, ten who are chosen to serve as trustees, and six who are elected alumni. The university has three main academic parts: Yale College (undergraduate studies), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and twelve professional schools.
Yale’s former president, Richard C. Levin, was one of the highest-paid university presidents in the United States in 2008, earning $1.5 million. His successor, Peter Salovey, earned $1.16 million in 2020 and ranked 40th in salary among university presidents.
Leaders from the Yale Provost’s Office and other executive roles have helped women reach important positions in universities. In 1977, Provost Hanna Holborn Gray became interim president of Yale and later became president of the University of Chicago, the first woman to hold those roles at each school. In 1994, Provost Judith Rodin became the first permanent female president of an Ivy League university at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2002, Provost Alison Richard became vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge. In 2003, Rebecca Chopp, dean of the Divinity School, became president of Colgate University, later serving as president of Swarthmore College and first female chancellor of the University of Denver. In 2004, Provost Susan Hockfield became president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2004, Catherine Gilliss, dean of the Nursing School, became dean of Duke University’s School of Nursing and vice chancellor for nursing affairs. In 2007, Deputy Provost H. Kim Bottomly became president of Wellesley College.
Men who held leadership roles at Yale have also moved to other universities. In 2004, Richard H. Brodhead, dean of Yale College, became president of Duke University. In 2008, Provost Andrew Hamilton became vice chancellor of the University of Oxford.
Yale University workers are part of several unions. Clerical and technical workers are in Local 34, and service and maintenance workers are in Local 35, both part of the same union, UNITE HERE. Yale has not recognized its graduate student union, Local 33, claiming the union’s elections were not fair and that graduate students are not employees. This decision has been criticized by the American Federation of Teachers. Officers of the Yale University Police Department are part of the Yale Police Benevolent Association, which joined the Connecticut Organization for Public Safety Employees in 2005. Security officers joined the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America in 2010, despite Yale’s disagreement with the election. In 2014, Yale security officers formed their own union, the Yale University Security Officers Association, to represent them.
Yale has a history of long and difficult labor negotiations, often leading to strikes. There have been at least eight strikes since 1968, and The New York Times reported that Yale has the worst record of labor conflicts among U.S. universities. The AFL–CIO accused Yale of not treating workers respectfully and not renewing contracts with professors who supported campus labor issues. Yale responded by stating that union participation was low and that its contracts provided benefits to workers.
Campus
Yale’s main campus in New Haven covers 260 acres and includes its historic main area and a medical campus next to Yale–New Haven Hospital. In western New Haven, the university has 500 acres of athletic facilities, such as the Yale Golf Course. In 2008, Yale bought a 136-acre complex in West Haven, Connecticut, which now serves as laboratory and research space. Yale also owns seven forests in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire, including the largest, the 7,840-acre Yale-Myers Forest in Connecticut’s Quiet Corner, and nature preserves like Horse Island.
Yale is known for its Collegiate Gothic-style buildings and modern structures often studied in architecture classes, such as the Yale Art Gallery and the Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges. The university also owns and restored many 19th-century mansions along Hillhouse Avenue, which Charles Dickens called the most beautiful street in America during his 1840s visit. In 2011, Travel + Leisure named Yale’s campus one of the most beautiful in the United States.
Many buildings were built in the Collegiate Gothic style between 1917 and 1931, funded mostly by Edward S. Harkness, including the Yale Drama School. Stone carvings on the walls show people from the university, like a writer, athlete, and student. Decorative friezes show scenes such as a police officer arresting someone or a student relaxing with a drink. The architect, James Gamble Rogers, made the buildings look old by using acid on the walls, breaking windows to look aged, and leaving niches empty to look like statues were lost over time. Though the buildings appear to be made of solid stone, most have steel frames, except Harkness Tower, which was reinforced in 1964 to support a carillon.
Other Gothic-style buildings on the Old Campus were designed by architects like Henry Austin and Charles C. Haight. Some are linked to the Vanderbilt family, including Vanderbilt Hall and Phelps Hall. The oldest building on campus, Connecticut Hall (built in 1750), is in the Georgian style. Georgian-style buildings built from 1929 to 1933 include Timothy Dwight College and Pierson College, though Davenport College’s east side has a Gothic-style façade.
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed by Gordon Bunshaft, is one of the world’s largest buildings for preserving rare books. It has a six-story tower with 180,000 books surrounded by marble panels that let in warm light. Near the library is a courtyard with sculptures by Isamu Noguchi that symbolize time, the sun, and chance. The library is located in Hewitt Quadrangle, now called Beinecke Plaza.
Alumnus Eero Saarinen, known for structures like the Gateway Arch and Dulles Airport, designed Ingalls Rink and the Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges. These colleges were inspired by the medieval Italian town of San Gimignano, with stone towers that contrast with the campus’s Gothic spires and Georgian domes.
The athletic field complex includes parts of New Haven and West Haven. Notable campus buildings include Battell Chapel, Harkness Tower, the Humanities Quadrangle, and the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Yale’s secret society buildings, some called “tombs,” vary in style. Examples include Berzelius, a cube with classical details; Book and Snake, a Greek Ionic-style building; and Skull and Bones, with Egypto-Doric style and Brownstone.
Yale’s Office of Sustainability works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. The university uses renewable energy credits and has 11 buildings aiming for LEED certification. Yale was recognized as a Campus Sustainability Leader in 2008 and is part of the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium.
Other campus-related areas include Grove Street Cemetery, Marsh Botanical Garden, and the Yale Sustainable Food Program Farm.
Yale is the largest taxpayer and employer in New Haven and has supported the city’s economy and communities.
Academics
Yale College is considered one of the most selective undergraduate schools in the United States by U.S. News. In 2022, Yale accepted 2,234 students for the Class of 2026 out of 50,015 applicants, which means an acceptance rate of 4.46%. In 2026, the acceptance rate for the Class of 2030 was 4.2%, down from 4.59% the year before. That year, 2,328 students were accepted from a group of 54,919 applicants, the second-largest number of applicants in Yale’s history after the Class of 2028. Ninety-eight percent of Yale students graduate within six years. Yale’s most selective graduate schools include the Law School (4% acceptance rate), School of Medicine (5%), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (5.7% for PhD admissions), School of Art (6%), School of Music (10%), School of Architecture (15%), and Divinity School (15%). Yale Divinity School is known as the most selective school in the world for studying religion.
Yale offers need-based financial aid to all students, meaning the university covers the full cost of attendance for those who qualify. This policy applies to both students from the United States and international students. Most financial aid comes in the form of grants and scholarships that do not need to be repaid. For the Class of 2017, the average grant was $46,395. Fifteen percent of Yale College students do not receive any financial help from their parents, and about half of all students receive some form of financial aid. In 2013, about 16% of graduating students had some student loan debt, with an average debt of $13,000. In 2019, Yale was ranked second in the number of students who received the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship (140 students).
About half of Yale undergraduates are women. More than 39% of students are U.S. citizens from ethnic minority backgrounds, with 19% being underrepresented minorities. Ten percent of students are international. Fifty-five percent of students attended public schools, and 45% attended private, religious, or international schools. Ninety-seven percent of students were in the top 10% of their high school class. Each year, Yale admits a small group of non-traditional students through the Eli Whitney Students Program.
Yale University Library has over 15 million books, making it the second-largest collection of books among U.S. universities. The main library, Sterling Memorial Library, holds about 4 million books, while other books are stored in libraries focused on specific subjects. In 2022, the university reported 9,144,904 physical books and 2,784,465 books in digital collections.
Rare books are kept in several Yale collections. The Beinecke Rare Book Library has many rare books and manuscripts. The Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library includes important historical medical texts and tools. The Lewis Walpole Library holds the largest collection of 18th-century British literary works. The Elizabethan Club, a private group, allows qualified researchers to use its rare Elizabethan books and first editions through Yale.
Yale’s museums are internationally recognized. The Yale University Art Gallery, the first university-affiliated art museum in the United States, has more than 200,000 artworks, including Old Masters and modern art. The Yale Center for British Art has the largest collection of British art outside the United Kingdom and was given to Yale by Paul Mellon. The Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven is used by school children and contains research collections in anthropology, archaeology, and natural history. The Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, linked to the Yale School of Music, is less well-known because it has limited hours.
In the past, Yale’s museums held artifacts from Peru that were brought to the United States by Yale professor Hiram Bingham in 1912. These items were returned to Peru in 2012.
In 2025, U.S. News & World Report ranked Yale fifth among U.S. national universities. Yale is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Internationally, Yale was ranked 11th in the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities and 21st in the 2026 QS World University Rankings. In 2026, Time magazine and Statista ranked Yale second among the world’s top universities.
Yale is part of the Association of American Universities and is classified as an R1 university, meaning it has very high research activity. In 2021, the National Science Foundation ranked Yale 15th in the United States for research spending, with $1.16 billion. Yale’s current faculty includes 67 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 8 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 187 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Yale is the tenth-largest source of bachelor’s degrees that lead to doctoral studies in the United States and the largest within the Ivy League. It is also a top 10 source of notable scientists, such as Nobel Prize winners and members of the National Academies.
Yale’s English and Comparative Literature departments were part of the New Criticism movement. Robert Penn Warren, W.K. Wimsatt, and Cleanth Brooks were Yale faculty members during this time. Later, the Comparative Literature department became a center for American deconstruction, a movement started by Jacques Derrida. Other Yale faculty, such as Paul de Man, J. Hillis Miller, Geoffrey Hartman, and Harold Bloom, were also associated with deconstruction. Yale’s history department has influenced important intellectual trends, including southern history and labor history. Yale’s Music School helped develop music theory in the 20th century, and the Journal of Music Theory was started there in 1957.
Since the late 1960s, Yale has produced research in social sciences and policy through the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS). Yale also has about 1,200 postdoctoral researchers from around the world working in science, social science, humanities, and
Campus life
Yale is a research university where most students are in graduate or professional schools. Undergraduate students, known as Yale College students, come from many different backgrounds, including various ethnic groups, countries, income levels, and personal experiences. In the 2010–2011 freshman class, 10% were not U.S. citizens, and 54% attended public high schools. The median family income of Yale students was $192,600. Fifty-seven percent of students came from the top 10% of the highest-earning families, and 16% came from the bottom 60% of income levels.
Yale’s residential college system was created in 1933 by Edward S. Harkness. He admired the social environment at Oxford and Cambridge in England and donated money to build similar colleges at Yale and Harvard. While Yale’s colleges are organized and designed like their English models, they are part of Yale College and have limited independence. Each college is led by a head and an academic dean who live in the college. Faculty and staff from the university are part of each college’s fellowship. Colleges host their own seminars, social events, and speaking events called "Master’s Teas," but they do not offer academic programs or departments. All undergraduate courses are taught by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and are available to students from any college.
All undergraduate students are assigned to a college before their freshman year. Eighty-five percent live in the college’s courtyard or a dormitory connected to the college. Most upperclassmen live in the colleges, but most freshmen live on Old Campus, the oldest part of the university.
Harkness’s original colleges were designed in the Georgian Revival or Collegiate Gothic style. Two colleges built in the 1960s, Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges, have modernist designs. All twelve college courtyards are centered around a courtyard and include a dining hall, library, common room, and student facilities. The colleges are named after important alumni or places in Yale’s history. In 2017, two new colleges were opened near Science Hill.
Examples of college courtyards and buildings include:
– Jonathan Edwards College courtyard
– Branford College courtyard
– Saybrook College’s Killingworth Courtyard
– Hopper College courtyard
– Berkeley College buildings
– Trumbull College courtyard
– Davenport College courtyard
– Pierson College courtyard
– Silliman College courtyard
– Timothy Dwight College courtyard
– Morse College courtyard
– Ezra Stiles College courtyard
– Benjamin Franklin College courtyard
– Pauli Murray College courtyard
Since the 1960s, John C. Calhoun’s support for slavery and white supremacy has led to calls to rename Calhoun College. After a racially motivated church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, students and others renewed efforts to rename the college. In July 2015, students signed a petition arguing that Calhoun was a strong defender of slavery and white supremacy. In August 2015, Yale President Peter Salovey explained that Calhoun’s name would remain because it is important for students to learn about history, even if it is difficult. He said removing the name would not address the history of slavery but instead hide it. In 2016, Salovey announced that Calhoun’s name would stay, but the title "master" for college leaders would change to "head of college" due to its connection to slavery.
In February 2017, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would be renamed for Grace Hopper, a pioneering computer scientist. This decision received mixed reactions from students and alumni. Some criticized the change, while others supported it.
In 2024, Yale had 526 registered undergraduate student organizations, plus hundreds for graduate students.
Dwight Hall, a community service group, oversees more than 2,000 Yale undergraduates working on over 70 community service projects in New Haven. The Yale College Council manages campus activities and student services. The Yale Dramatic Association and Bulldog Productions support theater and film groups, while the Yale Drama Coalition helps organize theater productions. WYBC Yale Radio is a student-run radio station that streams online.
The Yale College Council (YCC) is the undergraduate student government. It regulates and funds student organizations through the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee (UOFC). The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) represents graduate and professional students.
The Yale Political Union (YPU) is a debate group started in 1934. It is guided by alumni leaders like John Kerry and George Pataki. The Yale International Relations Association (YIRA) supports the university’s top-ranked Model UN team and other international programs.
The campus includes fraternities and sororities. At least 18 a cappella groups perform on campus, including The Whiffenpoofs, which was made up only of senior men from 1909 until 2018.
The Elizabethan Club
Notable people
Yale has received support from many people, but some are especially important because of how much they gave or when they gave. Some large donors include Elihu Yale, Jeremiah Dummer, the Vanderbilt family, the Harkness family (Edward, Anna, and William), the Beinecke family (Edwin, Frederick, and Walter), John William Sterling, Payne Whitney, Joseph Earl Sheffield, Paul Mellon, Charles B. G. Murphy, Joseph Tsai, William K. Lanman, and Stephen Schwarzman. The Yale Class of 1954, led by Richard Gilder, gave $70 million to celebrate their 50th reunion. Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate, promised to give $250 million in 2013 to build two new residential colleges. These colleges are named after Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin. Stephen Adams gave $100 million to make the Yale School of Music tuition-free and to build the Adams Center for Musical Arts. David Geffen gave $150 million to make the Yale School of Drama (now called the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale) tuition-free.
Yale has produced many successful graduates who work in different areas. About 71% of undergraduates join the workforce, and 17% go to graduate or professional schools. Yale graduates have won many scholarships, including 263 Rhodes Scholarships, 123 Marshall Scholarships, 67 Truman Scholarships, 21 Churchill Scholarships, and 9 Mitchell Scholarships. Yale is the second-largest producer of Fulbright Scholars, with 1,244 in its history and 89 MacArthur Fellows. In 2020–2021, Yale ranked fifth among research institutions for producing Fulbright Scholars. There are also 31 living billionaires who are Yale alumni.
One of the most popular undergraduate majors is political science. Many graduates go on to work in government or politics. Former U.S. presidents who studied at Yale include William Howard Taft, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. Former presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton studied at Yale Law School. Other notable graduates include John C. Calhoun, a vice president and influential politician, and JD Vance, who studied at Yale Law School. Other world leaders include Italian prime minister Mario Monti, Turkish prime minister Tansu Çiller, South Korean prime minister Lee Hong-koo, Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo, German president Karl Carstens, Philippine president José Paciano Laurel, Latvian president Valdis Zatlers, Taiwanese premier Jiang Yi-huah, and Malawian president Peter Mutharika. Prominent royals include Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Olympia Bonaparte, Princess Napoléon.
Yale alumni have held important roles in the U.S. government. Nineteen U.S. Supreme Court justices are Yale graduates, including Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh. Many alumni have been U.S. senators, including Michael Bennet, Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown, Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar, and Sheldon Whitehouse. Current and former cabinet members include Secretaries of State John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Cyrus Vance, and Dean Acheson; Secretaries of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott, Robert Rubin, Nicholas F. Brady, Steven Mnuchin, Janet Yellen, and Scott Bessent; and U.S. Attorneys General Nicholas Katzenbach, Edwin Meese, John Ashcroft, and Edward H. Levi. Other notable alumni include Sargent Shriver, founder of the Peace Corps, and Robert Moses, a public official and urban planner.
Yale has produced many famous authors and artists. Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis and Pulitzer Prize winners Stephen Vincent Benét, Thornton Wilder, Doug Wright, and David McCullough are among them. Academy Award winners include Jodie Foster, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Elia Kazan, George Roy Hill, Lupita Nyong'o, Oliver Stone, and Frances McDormand. Alumni have also contributed to music and the arts. These include composer Charles Ives, Broadway composer Cole Porter, Grammy winner David Lang, Tony Award winner Maury Yeston, and jazz pianist Vijay Iyer. Artists such as Matthew Barney, Richard Serra, Kehinde Wiley, Tschabalala Self, Titus Kaphar, Richard Whitten, Sarah Sze, Garry Trudeau, and Chuck Close are also Yale graduates. Other notable alumni include architect Maya Lin, Pritzker Prize winner Norman Foster, and designer Eero Saarinen. Journalists and pundits include Dick Cavett, Chris Cuomo, Anderson Cooper, William F. Buckley Jr., Blake Hounshell, Nia-Malika Henderson, and Fareed Zakaria.
In business, Yale alumni have started or led influential companies. These include William Boeing (Boeing, United Airlines), Briton Hadden and Henry Luce (Time Magazine), Stephen A. Schwarzman (Blackstone Group), Frederick W. Smith (FedEx), Juan Trippe (Pan Am), Harold Stanley (Morgan Stanley), Bing Gordon (Electronic Arts), and Ben Silbermann (Pinterest). Other business leaders include Edward Lampert (Sears Holdings), Jeffrey Bewkes (Time Warner), Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo), Donald Dell (sports agent), and Sir John Templeton (investor and philanthropist).
Yale alumni have made important contributions to education and science. These include Henry Louis Gates (literary critic and historian), economists Irving Fischer, Mahbub ul Haq, and Paul Krugman; Nobel Prize winners Ernest Lawrence, Murray Gell-Mann, and John B. Goodenough; Fields Medalist John G. Thompson; Francis S. Collins (Human Genome Project leader); Harvey Cushing (brain surgery pioneer); Grace Hopper (computer scientist); Josiah Willard Gibbs (mathematician and chemist); Florence B. Seibert (biochemist); Ron Rivest (Turing Award recipient); inventors Samuel F.B. Morse and Eli Whitney; lexicographer Noah Webster; and theologians Jonathan Edwards and Reinhold Niebuhr.
In sports, Yale alumni have excelled in various areas. Baseball players include Ron Darling, Craig Breslow, Ryan Lavarnway, Theo Epstein, and George Weiss. Basketball players include Chris Dudley, Tony Lavelli, Miye Oni, and Danny Wolf. Football players include Calvin Hill, Gary Fenick, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and Walter Camp, known as "the Father of American Football." Ice hockey players include Chris Higgins and Helen Resor. Olympic athletes include Sarah Hughes,
In fiction and popular culture
Yale University is a well-known institution that has produced many important people in society. Its campus, students, and graduates have often been shown in books and American popular culture. For example, Owen Johnson's book Stover at Yale tells the story of Dink Stover's time at the university. Frank Merriwell, a character who inspired many similar stories for young readers, plays football, baseball, crew, and track at Yale while solving mysteries and helping others. Yale is also mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. The story's narrator, Nick Carraway, wrote articles for the Yale News, and Tom Buchanan was described as "one of the most powerful ends that ever played football" for Yale.