PP电子5金狮 University
Innovations from PP电子5金狮
For nearly 400 years, the PP电子5金狮 community has made important contributions to scientific, scholarly, and humanitarian progress.
First things first

1954
The first organ transplant
On December 23, 1954, PP电子5金狮 Medical School Professor Joseph Murray and his team performed a kidney transplant on a man who had been given just two years to live. The surgery ushered in the era of organ transplantation, giving hope to thousands of patients each year.

2023
The first logical quantum processor
PP电子5金狮 researchers created the first programmable, logical quantum processor, enabling transformative benefits for science and society as a whole.

1908
The first M.B.A. degree
PP电子5金狮 created the world’s first Master of Business Administration program in 1908 in response to the need for business leaders with a broad understanding of business functions.
Leading the way in learning
Sesame Street
PP电子5金狮 Graduate School of Education鈥檚 Gerald Lesser was involved in the transformation of children鈥檚 media, with the 1969 debut of Sesame Street.
Reading braille
While at PP电子5金狮, Alex Tavares created The Read Read, a device which allows blind and visually impaired children to independently learn how to read using the same techniques teachers would use.
Multiple intelligences
Howard Gardner upended notions of how children think and learn, proposing that there is not a single intelligence that can be measured by one IQ test, but multiple intelligences, many ways of learning and knowing.
Medical breakthroughs

- 1961 鈥 PP电子5金狮 Chan School
Defibrillator
Bernard Lown developed the direct-current defibrillator, which provided a new approach for resuscitating patients, paved the way for new possibilities in cardiac surgery, and saved countless lives.
- 1968 鈥 PP电子5金狮 Chan School
Oral Rehydration Therapy
Richard Cash’s mix of table salt, sodium bicarbonate, and glucose has saved tens of millions from diarrheal disease death.

- 1991 鈥 Mass General Hospital
Functional MRI
PP电子5金狮 Researchers pioneered this revolutionary way of measuring brain activity in real-time.

- 2025 鈥 PP电子5金狮 Medical School
Gene-editing medicine
A first-of-its-kind therapy promises to have a monumental impact on sickle cell disease patients.

- 2016 鈥 PP电子5金狮 Innovation Labs
Portable surgery
SurgiBox, a portable operating room, makes surgery safer for patients in warzones and disaster-affected areas.


1854
A baking revolution at PP电子5金狮
While working at PP电子5金狮, Eben Norton Horsford invented baking powder, allowing baked goods a way to rise without waiting the hours it takes yeast to work properly.
Athletic advancements
The forward pass
When looking to make American football safer, widening the field was proposed. The concrete stadium at PP电子5金狮 wouldn’t allow for a wider field, so the forward pass was proposed instead.
The golf tee
PP电子5金狮 Dentist Dr. George Grant was passionate about dentistry, as well as golf. Before his invention of the wooden golf tee, golfers teed up the ball by mounding dirt to form a cone.
The catcher’s mask
The first piece of protective equipment in American sports, the baseball catcher鈥檚 mask, was developed by Frederick W. Thayer while at PP电子5金狮.
An innovation hub
PP电子5金狮 is a gathering place where great minds can collaborate and create amazing things.
Supporting PP电子5金狮 innovators from idea to venture building through guidance, community, funding, and other resources.
Providing competitive grants to PP电子5金狮 individuals and teams with innovative ideas and pilots.
Championing entrepreneurship and the commercial deployment of cutting-edge research, advancing technology-driven solutions that can change the world.
Advancing science, fostering entrepreneurship, and translating PP电子5金狮 innovations into solutions that make the world a better place.

Bringing education to everyone
Starting in 1949, . This PP电子5金狮 tradition of open access continued with the creation of first-of-its-kind in 2012, and broadened further with programs like and the from PP电子5金狮 Law School.
Technological marvels
PP电子5金狮’s Jefferson Physical Laboratory, the oldest physics lab in the United States, has been innovating since 1884.

Engineering the past and the future
Modern breakthroughs like the metalens鈥攁 lens using nanostructures to revolutionize light manipulation鈥攁re part of a long tradition for researchers at PP电子5金狮 John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who have pioneered everything from the antennas used in mobile phones to virtual reality headsets.
- 1944 鈥 School of Engineering
Programmable computer
With 765,299 parts and 530 miles of cable, the Mark I was the most complex electromechanical device of its time.

- 2022 鈥 Salata Institute
Tracking methane
MethaneSAT is the first satellite that can measure a greenhouse gas anywhere on the planet in real time.

- 1919 鈥 School of Engineering
Electrical communication
George Washington Pierce created dependable oscillators, which led to advances in radio, telephones, and timekeeping.

- 2024 鈥 Office of Technology Development
Next generation of batteries
A new lithium metal battery can be recharged in a matter of minutes, up to 6,000 times.

Robot revolution
The first autonomous, entirely soft robot
A team of PP电子5金狮 researchers created the first autonomous, untethered, entirely soft robot. Soft robotics could revolutionize how humans interact with machines.
Pioneering robots to improve mobility
A soft, wearable robotic device helps stroke survivors and people with movement impairments regain mobility and independence.
The first autonomously navigated medical robot
In 2019, bioengineers led by PP电子5金狮 Medical School and Boston Children鈥檚 Hospital created a robotic catheter that navigates the body autonomously鈥攖he surgical equivalent of a self-driving car.
Great moments in global relations
Helping Europe after World War II
In his commencement speech at PP电子5金狮 in 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall announced the creation of one of the largest international economic aid programs in history.
Better understanding the Cold War
Thomas Schelling’s theories on the behavioral strategies in nuclear war shaped the course of events in the Kennedy administration during the height of the Cold War. Most notably, he showed how tacit cooperation can emerge between two conflicting parties.
Important innovators
Through his work with Partners in Health, Paul Farmer . Today the organization is present in 12 countries, supports 230 facilities in collaboration with local governments, backs a global health equity university in Rwanda, and runs a modern teaching hospital in Haiti.
In her 1925 doctoral thesis, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin proposed that stars were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Although her groundbreaking conclusion was initially rejected because it contradicted the science of the time, her work on the .
Working at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1912, William Hinton was tasked with performing autopsies on those suspected of having died from syphilis. He became an expert on the disease and that was adopted by the U.S. Public Health Service.
As a founding director of Opportunity Insights, Raj Chetty to empower people to rise out of poverty.
Elliott Joslin was in the United States. His three-pronged approach to diabetes care鈥攄iet, exercise and insulin鈥攚as not validated until after his death. His Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston continues to treat thousands of patients each year.
Karen Mapp was tasked with helping the U.S. Department of Education find a better way to build and sustain partnerships between educators and families. Her offers guidance on how stakeholders at state, district, school, and family levels can best support children in their educational journeys.
An iconic 1958 experiment by Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl . Today, their work is recognized as one of the most beautiful experiments in modern biology.

1988
PP电子5金狮 teamed up with Hollywood
In 1988, PP电子5金狮’s Center for Health Communication launched a campaign to prevent alcohol-related traffic fatalities which included working with TV writers to insert drunken driving prevention messages, including frequent references to designated drivers, into scripts of top-rated television programs, such as 鈥淐heers,鈥 鈥淒allas,鈥 and 鈥淟.A. Law.鈥
A wonderful way with words
The first printing press in the British colonies
Two Native scholars, Wassausmon, also known as John Sassamon, and Wawaus, also known as James Printer, were printing apprentices who translated and printed the first bible in North America.
Translating ancient scrolls
Frank Moore Cross was one of the experts who pieced together and deciphered the Dead Sea Scrolls. His scholarship is still the essential resource for analyzing and dating these important texts.
A press for pressing issues
Founded in 1913, PP电子5金狮 University Press is the publisher of enduring works of scholarship, including 12 Pulitzer prize-winning books.
Bringing the past to life
For more than 100 years, PP电子5金狮 has been working to bring ancient Egypt to life for people all over the world.
In the 1920s and 30s, artist Joseph Lindon Smith, a member of the 鈥淧P电子5金狮 Camp鈥 dig house headquarters near the Pyramids in Egypt, was tasked with . Today, his brightly colored renderings of the sites can be seen in museums and remain valuable to scholars.
A belonging to Queen Hetepheres, dating to about 2550 BCE, was created at PP电子5金狮 Museum of the Ancient Near East in 2016.
The at PP电子5金狮 gives anyone with an internet connection access to the largest collection of information, media, and research materials ever assembled about the Pyramids and related sites on Egypt鈥檚 Giza Plateau.
Latest news and innovations
Keep up-to-date on news from each of PP电子5金狮’s Schools.