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1911 In "The Idea of Research" President Harry Pratt Judson examined what makes a university a university. The goal of such institutions, he argued, should be to attain new truths. These truths, he continued, can have practical results, pointing to attempts to "eliminate malaria and yellow fever in the way of preventative medicine." Researchers benefit from teaching, he argued, because a researcher can "test what he is doing" and is a more "inspiring teacher from the fact that he is not giving information that he has acquired in a routine way, but that he is always speaking and working from the point of view of one who is himself a productive scholar."

1951 Marking Chicago's 60th anniversary, anthropology professor Robert Redfield, AB'20, JD'21, PhD'28, spoke on "The Dangerous Duty of the University." Commenting on the McCarthy investigations of subversive activities and professors on Chicago's campus, Redfield said, "It cannot be denied that there is a considerable opinion outside the University which sees us as a place of dangerous ideas and dangerous men." But Redfield did not view that reputation as something of which to be ashamed. Instead, he argued, "I put forward the view that this reputation for dangerous radicalism is an evidence that the University is doing its duty. It shows that the University is engaged in defending the very liberties which its detractors believe it to be endangering."

1976 Chicago lost its status as the site of the world's first sustained release of nuclear energy. A paper in Scientific American reported that in Gabon, West Africa, "a rich vein of uranium ore, a natural 'reactor,' it appears, once went critical, consumed a portion of its fuel, and then shut itself down-in Precambrian times, almost 2,000,000,000 years ago." Also in the news, Paramount Pictures was considering a movie based on A River Runs Through It by English professor Norman F. Maclean, PhD'40. A film version of the book would not appear until 1992, directed by Robert Redford and starring Brad Pitt.

1991 The October issue looked back at the first century of University history. One article chronicled "the quest by a group of College faculty as they created their Centennial Syllabus, a 'common core' for the University's 100th year." In the philosophy category, Plato's The Apology made the cut, while Darwin's On the Origin of the Species was required reading in science. Among the events noted on a centennial timeline were the 1901 publication of "Style Book," the precursor to The Chicago Manual of Style; the 1940 establishment of the Institute of Military Studies with courses in basic training, military theory and law, as well as marksmanship; and the 1981 merger of the 650,000-volume John Crerar Library with the University's science holdings, bringing the total volume count to more than 1 million.-Q.J.

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