The history of Michigan State University (MSU) dates to 1855, when the
Michigan Legislature established the Agricultural College of the State
of Michigan. As the first agricultural college in the United States, the
school served as a prototype for future Land Grant institutions under
the Morrill Act. The school's first class graduated in 1861. That same
year, the Michigan Legislature approved a plan to allow the school to
adopt a four-year curriculum and grant degrees comparable to those of
rival University of Michigan. In 1870, the College became co-educational
and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture into a broad array of
coursework commencing with home economics for women students. The school
established "Farmers' Institutes" as a means of reaching out to the
state's agricultural community; the program gradually became the MSU
Extension Services. After World War II, the college gained admission to
the Big Ten Conference and grew to become one of the largest educational
institutions in the United States. In its centennial year of 1955, the
state officially made the school a university and the current name was
adopted in 1964 after Michigan voters adopted a new constitution.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Michigan_State_University>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1533:
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire: Conquistador Francisco
Pizarro executed the last independent Inca Emperor Atahualpa in
Cajamarca.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atahualpa>
1786:
Led by Daniel Shays, disgruntled farmers in Western
Massachusetts, US, angered by high tax burdens and disenfranchisement,
started Shays' Rebellion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27_Rebellion>
1831:
Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, leading
to the formation of Faraday's law of induction.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday%27s_law_of_induction>
1916:
The United States Congress passed the Philippine Autonomy Act,
the first formal and official declaration of the US commitment to grant
independence to the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Law_(Philippines)>
1949:
The Soviet Union successfully conducted its first nuclear
weapons test, exploding the 22-kiloton RDS-1.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDS-1>
1991:
Italian businessman Libero Grassi was killed by the Sicilian
Mafia after taking a public stand against their extortion demands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libero_Grassi>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
skyclad:
(Wicca) Naked outdoors.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skyclad>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
An act of goodness is of itself an act of happiness. No reward coming
after the event can compare with the sweet reward that went with it.
--Maurice Maeterlinck
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maurice_Maeterlinck>