JHU was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur, abolitionist, and philanthropist Johns Hopkins. His $7 million bequest—of which half financed the establishment of The Johns Hopkins Hospital—was the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the United States at the time.
The first research university in the Western Hemisphere and one of the founding members of the American Association of Universities, Johns Hopkins has ranked among the world's top universities throughout its history.
Over the course of almost 140 years, 36 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with Johns Hopkins (the first was U.S. President Woodrow Wilson).
Johns Hopkins University is organized into ten divisions on campuses in Maryland and Washington, D.C. with international centers in Italy, China, and Singapore. The two undergraduate divisions, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering, are located on the Homewood campus in Baltimore's Charles Village neighborhood. The medical school, the nursing school, and the Bloomberg School of Public Health are located on the Medical Institutions campus in East Baltimore. The university also consists of the Peabody Institute, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, the education school, the Carey Business School, and various other facilities.