Description: The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890. William Rainey Harper became the university's first president, in 1891, and the first classes were held in 1892. It has a reputation of academic scholarship and intellectualism and is affiliated with scores of Rhodes Scholars and 87 Nobel laureates.