Founding a research institute
John D. Rockefeller, working with advisers including Frederick T. Gates, established the medical research institute in 1901. Its early work addressed infectious disease and public health. Permanent laboratories opened in 1906 at the York Avenue site in New York.
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A hospital for research
The institute’s hospital opened in 1910, allowing laboratory investigations and observations of patients within one institution. Avery and colleagues investigated pneumococci there; Dubos later studied soil microorganisms and antibacterial substances, while Landsteiner continued blood-group and immunological research.
Graduate education and a new name
The institute admitted its first graduate students in 1955 and awarded its first doctorates in 1959. It became Rockefeller University in 1965. The archive description of that year’s convocation records approval of the corporate name change by New York’s Regents in May.