The Ohio State University is celebrating its first 150 years of excellence in education, research, innovation and community engagement by reflecting on its remarkable past and preparing for its bold future. Research and creative expression innovators have made their mark over the last 150 years by taking on the world’s issues as their direct challenges. Through this site, we will recognize many of those Ohio State innovators, and reflect on the university’s ongoing commitment to the discovery and application of knowledge.
Bertha Bouroncle, hematology/oncology
Bertha Bouroncle (1919-2013) came to The Ohio State University in 1948 on a one-year postdoctoral scholarship awarded to her by Saint Marcos National University Medical School in Peru. The only woman in her medical school class, she went...
Perfecting the Drumstick
The ice cream drumstick was invented by brothers I.C. and J.T. (Stubby) Parker of the DrumstickCompany of Fort Worth, Texas, in 1928. The Parkers wanted to provide prepackaged ice cream cones but found that the cones became too soggy b...
John D. Kraus, Electrical Engineering and Astronomy
John Kraus (1910-2004) joined the Ohio State faculty in 1946. His fascination with the potential to use radio waves to “see” the universe began during his undergraduate days. Among his inventions are the helical antenna, which beca...
Sidney L Pressey, Psychology
Sidney Pressey, (1888-1979) was a professor of psychology at The Ohio State University from 1921 until his retirement in 1959. As a boy, Pressey was often bored in school, feeling that he already knew the subject material, or could get...
Charles A. Csuri, Advanced Computing Center for Art and Design (ACCAD)
Charles (Chuck) Csuri (1922- ) is the founder and emeritus director of Ohio State’s Advanced Computing Center for Art and Design (ACCAD). Described by Smithsonianmagazine as the “father of digital art and computer animation”, Csuri ...
Albert Tuttle, zoology
Albert Tuttle (1844-1927) was a professor of zoology and scholar whose work focused on small organisms such as protozoa and green algae in microscopy journals, as well as in broader outlets (Tuttle, 1872, 1926). Tuttle was active in pr...
William Lazenby, botany and horticulture
William Lazenby, (1850–1916) was a professor of botany and horticulture who joined the Ohio State faculty in 1881. He was a noted authority on forestry (e.g., Lazenby, 1913), who also served as the first director of the Agricultural Ex...
Norton Townshend, agriculture
Norton S. Townshend (1815-1895) was a professor of agriculture, director of the State Board of Agriculture of Ohio and the author of the Agricultural Survey of Lorain County (Townshend, 1867). He was one of the first Trustees of the ne...
Edward Orton, geology
Edward Orton, Sr. (1829-1899) was the first president of The Ohio State University. He was an economic geologist who later served as the president of the Geological Society of America and the president of the American Association for the...
Thomas Mendenhall, physics
Thomas Mendenhall (1841–1924) was a self-taught physicist and meteorologist whose work focused on gravity, electricity, seismology and other areas of physics. He is perhaps best known for his 1890 invention of the Mendenhall Gravimeter...