University of California, Berkeley

In 1868 the University of California was founded when two institutions merged: the private College of California in Oakland and a new state land-grant institution. The new university opened with a mere 10 faculty members and 40 students.⁠[1][2]

In 1870 the first female students, 17 in total, enrolled at the university.⁠[1]

In 1873 the university moved to its new campus in Berkeley on land adjoining Strawberry Creek.⁠[1]

In 1899 Benjamin Ide Wheeler became president; the university calls his 20-year presidency the “golden years” of growth and distinction, during which finances stabilized, library and scholarship funds were created and campus museums were established. The same year summer sessions were established, initially to train physics and chemistry teachers.⁠[1]

J. Paul GettyJ. Paul GettyJ. Paul Getty (1892–1976) was an American oil businessman and art collector who held a controlling interest in the Getty Oil Company and founded the J. Paul Getty Museum; his bequest built the J. Paul Getty Trust after his death.Open the full entry first attended the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California (USC) is a private research university in Los Angeles, California, planned by a group led by Judge Robert Maclay Widney and opened to students in 1880.Open the full entry and later transferred to the University of California, Berkeley (1909–1911), before beginning studies at Magdalen College, University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university in Oxford, England, where teaching existed in some form by 1096; it describes itself as the oldest university in the English-speaking world and is organised as a federal system of the university and dozens of self-governing colleges.Open the full entry, in November 1912. Within the Getty family, Mark GettyMark GettyMark Getty is the co-founder and chairman of the board of the image company Getty Images and oversees Getty family investments; in Getty Images’ 2026 bankruptcy restructuring, Getty family affiliated entities and Koch Equity Development committed new equity and will jointly own the reorganized company.Open the full entry, co-founder and chairman of Getty ImagesGetty ImagesGetty Images is a visual content company headquartered in Seattle, United States, whose three brands, Getty Images, iStock, and Unsplash, license creative images, editorial images such as news and sports pictures, video, and music. Its holding company, Getty Images Holdings, Inc., was listed on the New York Stock Exchange from 2022 and has traded over the counter since September 2026.Open the full entry, was also educated at the University of Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley; his company biography does not give the years.⁠[3][4]

In 1919 a southern branch of the University of California opened in Los Angeles, initiating a statewide university system.⁠[1]

In 1939 Ernest Lawrence received a Nobel Prize for his work on the cyclotron, becoming the first of 25 Berkeley faculty members to date to win a Nobel Prize.⁠[1]

In 1941 professors Glenn T. Seaborg, Edwin McMillan and colleagues used the cyclotron to produce plutonium.⁠[1]

In 1960 the state Legislature approved the California Master Plan for Higher Education.⁠[1]

In 1964 students and university administrators clashed over the right to advocate for political causes on the Berkeley campus, giving rise to the Free Speech Movement; Mario Savio and other students were suspended, and students held rallies and went on strike.⁠[1]

In 1969 students protested the development plans for a three-acre lot south of campus, known as People’s Park.⁠[1]

Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing it with Emmanuelle Charpentier.⁠[1]

David Card won the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for work that challenged orthodoxy and shifted understanding of inequality and the social and economic forces that affect low-wage workers; he was awarded half the prize, with the other half shared by Joshua Angrist of MIT and Guido Imbens of Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityStanford University is a research university in California founded by Leland and Jane Stanford in 1885 and opened in 1891.Open the full entry.⁠[1]

On July 1, 2024, Rich Lyons began his term as the 12th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, the first undergraduate alumnus to serve as Chancellor; he had previously been dean of the Haas School of Business and led innovation and entrepreneurship efforts across the campus.⁠[5]

John Clarke won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis, for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit; these circuits were forerunners of the qubits in many quantum computers. Omar Yaghi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa, for creating molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow; these metal-organic frameworks can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or catalyze chemical reactions.⁠[1]

As of October 2026 Rich Lyons was Chancellor; the University of California, Berkeley is part of the University of California system.⁠[6]

Data from the university’s Office of Planning and Analysis show 33,122 undergraduates and 13,029 graduate students in fall 2025. The university’s website lists 184 academic departments and programs, a student-to-faculty ratio of 19.4 to 1, nine Nobel Prizes held by current faculty and 26% first-generation students among first-year students; these official pages do not publish a total faculty headcount.⁠[7][2]

University of California, Berkeley: Official website: https://www.berkeley.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[2]

X: Official account: https://x.com/UCBerkeley (opens in a new window)⁠[2]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Official account: https://www.linkedin.com/school/uc-berkeley/ (opens in a new window)⁠[2]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Official account: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZAXKyvvIV4uU4YvP5dmrmA (opens in a new window)⁠[2]