Ingenious: Old Man River
William Warfield was expecting a long day of recording, as he prepared to sing the iconic song “Old Man River,” for the classic MGM musical, Show Boat, in 1951. But after his first run-through,...
Ingenious: The father of special education
Samuel A. Kirk recalled that just before a 1963 conference in Chicago, a friend of his said, “We’re going to ask you to give us a term” to describe children struggling with a wide...
Ingenious: Mapping the pig genome
When it was announced in 2001 that the University of Illinois would lead the first efforts to sequence the pig genome, Animal Sciences Professor Lawrence Schook had a lab party to celebrate. His team...
Ingenious: Did exploding supernovas cause mass extinction?
A new study led by U of I Astronomy and Physics Professor Brian Fields explores the possibility of astronomical activity leading to an extinction event that occurred 359 million years ago during the Paleozoic...
Ingenious: The Rainmaker
When international hydrology experts visit the University of Illinois, they often look for the “mighty” Boneyard Creek. They’re shocked to discover that it’s a tiny waterway winding through campus and “not much larger than...
Ingenious: The magician of BCL
When Heinz von Foerster was a child in Vienna, his grandmother hosted artists, philosophers and politicians, and von Foerster soaked it all in. He brought that same multidisciplinary spirit to Illinois in 1949 as...
Ingenious: Professor of Poverty
Oscar Lewis was no stranger to controversy—or to accolades and honors. This was certainly the case after the U of I professor of anthropology published The Children of Sánchez in 1961. Critics bristled at...
Ingenious: The best
When organizers of the Armour Institute in Chicago were seeking “the best man” to head their new library in 1893, they sought the advice of librarian Melvil Dewey, who created the Dewey Decimal Classification...
Ingenious: The nation’s oldest
In October 1969, students protesting the Vietnam War charged toward the Morrow Plots located in the heart of the UI campus. In a bit of guerilla theater, they planned to run through the historic...
Ingenious: Beneath icy waters
The Antarctic toothfish, which can weigh more than 200 pounds and grow as long as 5 feet, moves easily through the crystal-clear water beneath the thick ice. The toothfish, like other fish in these...
