History

UW–Madison firsts

  1. 1875

    Nation’s first Scandinavian studies department

  2. 1890

    First test of butterfat content in milk

  3. 1913

    Discovery of vitamin A

  4. 1916

    Discovery of vitamin B

  5. 1924

    Discovery of methods to enrich food with vitamin D

  6. 1919

    Oldest educational radio station

  7. 1926

    First university dance program

  8. 1930s

    Discovery of methods to iodize salt

  9. 1936

    First artist-in-residence program at a university

  10. 1939

    First university department of wildlife management

  11. 1959

    First space-based weather camera

  12. 1968

    First bone marrow transplant

  13. 1970

    Creation of the first synthetic gene

  14. 1973

    Nation’s only on-campus blood donation center

  15. 1987

    Development of Wisconsin Solution, used in transplant surgery

  16. 1998

    First cultivation of embryonic stem cells in a lab