Who is Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six campuses within the Purdue University System. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and money from Lafayette businessman John Purdue to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture in his name. The first classes were held on September 16, 1874, with three buildings, six instructors, and 39 students. Today, Purdue enrolls the second largest student body of any university in Indiana and has one of the largest international student populations of any public university in the United States. The university's Discovery Park and Purdue Research Park are home to hundreds of medical, biotechnology, and nanotechnology laboratories and companies. Purdue was the first university globally to have ever offered an aeronautics program .

Purdue offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in over 200 major areas of study. The university has been highly influential in America's history of aviation, having established the first college credit offered in flight training, the first four-year bachelor's degree in aviation, and the first university airport (Purdue University Airport). In the mid-20th century, Purdue's aviation program expanded to encompass advanced spaceflight technology giving rise to Purdue's nickname, Cradle of Astronauts. Twenty-two of Purdue's graduates are astronauts, including Gus Grissom (one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts), Neil Armstrong (the first person to walk on the moon), and Eugene Cernan (the most recent person to walk on the moon).