Topics Related to Duke University

On December 20, 1820, Washington Duke, patriarch of the Duke tobacco empire, was born on a farm in Orange County.

On December 11, 1924, James B. Duke established the Duke Endowment with an initial gift of $40 million. The Endowment received an additional $67 million at Duke’s death the following year.

On October 6, 1967, three students graduated from Duke’s Physician Assistant (PA) Program and became the first PAs in the country.When Dr. Eugene A. Stead, Jr., then Chairman of Duke’s Department of Medicine, established the PA Program in 1965, it was the first of its kind in the nation. A two-year course that trained students to practice medicine and provide health care services under a doctor’s supervision, the program aimed to address the problem of the physician shortage, particularly in rural areas throughout North Carolina.

On August 23, 1934, legendary quarterback Christian Jurgensen, was born in Wilmington. Known to the world as Sonny, the spirited and redheaded Jurgensen is considered one of the all-time best passers in pro football history.Jurgensen was a multi-talented athlete in Wilmington during the 1940s and 1950s, playing baseball, basketball, football and tennis. He attended Duke and joined the varsity football squad in 1954 as a defensive back, becoming starting quarterback the next year and leading the team to the Orange Bowl.

On July 21, 1930, Duke University Hospital opened to patients after three years of construction.The idea for the hospital can be traced back to 1925, when industrialist James B. Duke made a $4 million bequest to establish a medical school, nursing school and hospital to help improve health care in the Carolinas. Duke’s dream was to create what he hoped would become the best medical institution between Baltimore and New Orleans.

On June 22, 1905, the Southern Power Company was incorporated in New Jersey by Benjamin and James Duke—sons of tobacco industrialist Washington Duke—and two partners. Southern Power changed its name to Duke Power in 1924, and then became Duke Energy in 1997 after merging with another company.

On June 2, 1935, the Duke Chapel was dedicated in Durham.The chapel’s iconic design was the work of Julian Abele, a prominent African American architect from Philadelphia who designed much of Duke’s West Campus, and since Duke University is rooted in the Methodist tradition, Abele planned the chapel for the campus’s center.

On May 6, 1944, the Journal of the American Medical Association cited a study on the effect of what would become known as the “Rice Diet” on treating heart disease. Walter Kempner of Duke University presented the results at an AMA conference later that year.Kempner documented decreases in heart size, improved kidney function and a reversal of high blood pressure when patients ate a diet limited to rice and fruit. The prescribed diet contained only 50 milligrams of sodium and limited its calories from fat and protein to less than 5 percent each.

On April 27, 1855, Benjamin N. Duke was born on the Duke family farm north of Durham.Often sickly as a child, Duke didn’t let his health get in the way of helping with the family tobacco business that began shortly after the end of the Civil War. He became a partner in the business when it was incorporated in 1878, and became treasurer of the American Tobacco Company in 1890 when the Duke organization became part of that enterprise.

On February 20, 1980, Joseph Banks Rhine of Durham, a controversial investigator into the paranormal, died.Rhine, with his pioneering work in parapsychology, gained national notoriety for himself and Duke University, where he worked.