Stanford University

Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, California. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford, the eighth governor of and then-incumbent senator from California, and his wife, Jane, in memory of their only child, Leland Jr. The university admitted its first students in 1891, opening as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. It struggled financially after Leland's death in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, university provost Frederick Terman inspired an entrepreneurial culture in order to build a self-sufficient local industry.

Stanford is one of the most successful universities worldwide in attracting funding for start-up companies and in also licensing its inventions to existing businesses. Alumni have founded numerous corporations, which when combined equal the tenth-largest economy in the world.