Johns Hopkins is a name that refers both to a 19th-century American philanthropist and to the institutions he founded, most notably Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Johns Hopkins (the person) (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a tobacco plantation in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, to a Quaker family, he left home at age 17 to work in his uncle's wholesale grocery business in Baltimore. He accumulated his fortune primarily through investments in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), for which he later served as finance director, and as president of the Merchants' National Bank. A Quaker, Hopkins strongly supported Abraham Lincoln and the Union during the American Civil War. Upon his death, he bequeathed $7 million (equivalent to approximately $166 million in 2024) to establish a university, a hospital, and an orphanage for African American children in Baltimore. At the time, this was the largest philanthropic gift in U.S. history. His relationship to slavery has been the subject of historical debate: in 2020, university-commissioned research suggested he may have owned enslaved individuals earlier in his life, while subsequent scholarship has questioned this interpretation, noting limitations in the census data and the absence of corroborating documentation.
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, incorporated in 1867 and opened in 1876. It is widely considered the first research university in the United States, having been modeled on the European research institution tradition, particularly Heidelberg University. Daniel Coit Gilman served as its first president. The university is organized into ten academic divisions across multiple campuses, including the Homewood campus (undergraduate schools), the East Baltimore medical campus (home to the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and Bloomberg School of Public Health), the Peabody Institute (music conservatory), the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Carey Business School, and the School of Advanced International Studies (with campuses in Washington, D.C., and Bologna, Italy). JHU is a founding member of the Association of American Universities. As of FY2024, its endowment was approximately $13.06 billion. The university is known for its biomedical research, public health programs, and engineering, and has consistently led all U.S. universities in federal research funding for decades. As of March 2025, 34 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university. Notable alumni include U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (PhD 1886), former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, journalist Wolf Blitzer, marine biologist Rachel Carson, and novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Johns Hopkins Hospital, founded in 1889, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, founded in 1893, together form a leading academic medical center. The medical school was the first in the U.S. to admit women on an equal basis with men and to require a bachelor's degree for admission. The hospital and medical school have been associated with numerous medical breakthroughs, including the first "blue baby" operation and the development of modern surgical techniques.
