Stanford University facts for kids

"Stanford" redirects here. For other uses, see Stanford (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University

Motto	Die Luft der Freiheit weht (German)
Motto in English	"The wind of freedom blows"
Type	Private research university
Established	October 1, 1891; 133 years ago (October 1, 1891)
Founder	Leland and Jane Stanford
Accreditation	WSCUC
Academic affiliations	AAU COFHE URA Space-grant
Endowment	$36.5 billion (2023)
Budget	$8.9 billion (2023/24)
President	Richard Saller (interim) Jonathan Levin (designate)
Provost	Jenny Martinez
Academic staff	2,323 (Fall 2023)
Administrative staff	18,369 (Fall 2023)
Students	17,529 (Fall 2023)
Undergraduates	7,841 (Fall 2023)
Postgraduates	9,688 (Fall 2023)
Location	Stanford , California , United States 37°25′39″N 122°10′12″W / 37.42750°N 122.17000°W / 37.42750; -122.17000
Campus	Large suburb: 8,180-acre (3,310-hectare)
Other campuses	Pacific Grove Redwood City Washington, D.C.
Newspaper	The Stanford Daily
Colors	Cardinal Red & White
Nickname	Cardinal
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I FBS – Pac-12 IRA PCCSC MPSF
Mascot	Stanford Tree (unofficial)

Stanford University, officially called Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. It was started in 1885 by Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford. They founded it to honor their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had passed away. Leland Stanford was a railroad owner and also served as the governor and a senator for California.

The university welcomed its first students in 1891. It was open to both male and female students and did not belong to any specific religion. After Leland's death in 1893, the university faced money problems. It was also damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. After World War II, a leader named Frederick Terman encouraged teachers and students to start their own businesses. This helped create a strong local industry known as Silicon Valley. In 1951, Stanford opened Stanford Research Park, the first university research park in the world.

Stanford has seven main schools of study. Its campus is very large, covering about 8,180 acres. It is known for its strong focus on research and for encouraging new businesses. Many companies have been started by Stanford graduates. By 2021, the university had over 2,200 full-time teachers and researchers.

Students at Stanford compete in 36 different sports. The university has won many national championships, more than any other school. Stanford students and alumni have also won over 300 Olympic medals.

Many important world leaders have studied at Stanford. These include former U.S. President Herbert Hoover and current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak. The university is also connected to many Nobel Prize winners and successful business people.

Stanford University's History

A statue of the Stanford family on the Stanford University campus.

Stanford University was founded in 1885 by Leland Stanford and Jane Stanford. They created it to remember their son, Leland Stanford Jr.. The university opened its doors in 1891 on the Stanfords' farm in Palo Alto. The Stanfords wanted their university to be like the big universities in the Eastern U.S., especially Cornell University. Stanford was even called the "Cornell of the West" because many of its first teachers and leaders came from Cornell. Both universities were among the first to offer higher education to everyone, including women, and without religious ties.

The center of the Stanford campus in 1891.

The Stanfords also wanted their university buildings to look special. They wanted them to be like old Spanish adobe houses, with one story, deep window seats, and red tile roofs. They hired Frederick Law Olmsted, a famous landscape architect who also designed Cornell's campus, to plan Stanford's grounds.

David Starr Jordan, a fish expert and Stanford's first president.

When Leland Stanford died in 1893, the university faced financial challenges. However, Jane Stanford made sure it stayed open. The university was badly damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Most of the damage was fixed, but some parts of the Stanford Memorial Church and the Quad were never fully restored.

In the early 1900s, Stanford added several professional graduate schools. The Stanford University School of Medicine started in 1908. The Stanford Law School became a professional school in 1908. The Stanford University Graduate School of Education became a professional graduate school in 1917. The Stanford Graduate School of Business was founded in 1925. In 1919, Herbert Hoover started The Hoover Institution to collect items related to World War I. The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which studies tiny particles, was set up in 1962.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Frederick Terman, an engineering professor, encouraged Stanford graduates to start their own technology companies. He helped create the Stanford Industrial Park (now Stanford Research Park) on university land. This park, along with other tech companies, helped the area become known as Silicon Valley. Many people call Terman and William Shockley, a Nobel Prize winner who also taught at Stanford, the "fathers of Silicon Valley."

William Shockley, a Stanford professor and Nobel Prize winner, known as a "Father of Silicon Valley."

From 1949 to 1968, Wallace Sterling was Stanford's president. He helped Stanford grow from a smaller, regional university to a well-known international academic center. During his time, the Stanford Medical School moved to the main campus. The Stanford Industrial Park and Stanford Shopping Center were created, which helped the university's finances. More students also received financial aid, and the number of students and teachers grew. He also started a program for students to study abroad.

In the 1960s, Stanford became one of the most respected universities in the United States. It was often listed among the "top ten" universities.

Stanford's Campus Land

The center of the Stanford University campus.

Most of Stanford is on a huge 8,180-acre campus. This makes it one of the largest university campuses in the United States. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula, about 37 miles southeast of San Francisco. It is also about 20 miles northwest of San Jose. In 2008, about 60% of Stanford's land was still undeveloped.

Stanford's main campus includes a special area within Santa Clara County. However, some university land, like the Stanford Shopping Center and Stanford Research Park, is inside the city of Palo Alto. The campus also includes land in San Mateo County, where the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is located.

The central campus has a seasonal lake called Lake Lagunita. This lake is actually a reservoir used for irrigation. It is home to the California tiger salamander, a special type of salamander. In January 2023, heavy rains filled Lake Lagunita up to 8 feet deep. Two other reservoirs, Searsville Lake and Felt Lake, are in more distant parts of the university's land.

The Main Campus Area

The main academic campus is next to Palo Alto. It is bordered by El Camino Real, Stanford Avenue, Junipero Serra Blvd, and Sand Hill Road. The U.S. Postal Service has given it two ZIP Codes.

{{wide image|Stanford Oval May 2011 panorama.jpg|800px|align-cap=center|A view of Stanford's main quadrangle, with Memorial Church in the background, seen from the grassy Oval.]]

Other Stanford Locations

On the original land grant:

Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve is a 1,200-acre nature reserve south of the main campus. It is owned by the university and used by scientists to study wildlife. Students and teachers learn about the importance of understanding Earth's natural systems.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a facility west of the main campus. The university runs it for the Department of Energy. It has the world's longest linear particle accelerator, which is 2 miles long.

Off the original land grant:

Hopkins Marine Station is in Pacific Grove. It is a marine biology research center owned by Stanford since 1892. It is one of the oldest marine laboratories on the U.S. Pacific Coast. It has 10 research labs and is also used for finding old artifacts.
Stanford also has study abroad locations around the world. These places have Stanford teachers and staff, making them like "mini-Stanfords."
The Redwood City campus holds many of the university's administrative offices. It is a few miles north of the main campus and opened in March 2019.
The Bass Center in Washington, D.C. is a base for the Stanford in Washington program. It provides housing for students and has a small art gallery.
In China, the Stanford Center at Peking University is a small center for researchers and students. They work together with Peking University.

{{wide image|Lake Lagunita Stanford January 2013 panorama 5.jpg|880px|align-cap=center|Lake Lagunita in winter. The Dish, a large radio telescope and a local landmark, is visible in the hills behind the lake. It is part of a popular walking trail.]]

Where Teachers Live

Many Stanford teachers live in an area called the "Faculty Ghetto." It is close enough to walk or bike to campus. The land for these houses is owned by Stanford. Teachers can buy and sell houses there, but they lease the land for a long time.

Other Uses of Stanford Land

Some of Stanford's land is used to make money for the university. Examples include the Stanford Shopping Center and the Stanford Research Park. Stanford also leases land to the Palo Alto Unified School District for schools like Palo Alto High School. El Camino Park, Palo Alto's oldest city park, is also on Stanford land. The university also has the Stanford Golf Course and the Stanford Red Barn Equestrian Center.

Famous Campus Landmarks

Some well-known places on campus include the Main Quad and Stanford Memorial Church. There's also the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts and the Bing Concert Hall. Other landmarks are the Stanford Mausoleum, Hoover Tower, the Rodin Sculpture Garden, and the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden. The Arizona Cactus Garden, the Stanford University Arboretum, Green Library, and the Dish are also popular spots. The White Memorial Fountain, also known as "The Claw," is a favorite meeting place where students sometimes "fountain hop."

Inside the Stanford Memorial Church at the center of the Main Quad.
Hoover Tower, the tallest building on campus at 285 feet.
The new Stanford Stadium, where home football games are played.
Stanford Quad with Memorial Church in the background.
The Dish, a 150-foot radio telescope in the Stanford hills.
White Memorial Fountain (The Claw).

How Stanford is Run

Stanford is a private university run by a group called the board of trustees. This board has up to 38 members who serve five-year terms. They meet five times a year and choose new members themselves. The trustees also oversee the Stanford Research Park, the Stanford Shopping Center, and the Stanford University Medical Center.

The board chooses a president to be the university's main leader. The president manages the university's money and appoints nine vice presidents. Richard Saller is the interim president as of September 2023. Jonathan Levin will become the next president on August 1, 2024. The provost is the main academic and budget officer. Jenny Martinez became the provost in October 2023.

Stanford has seven main academic schools. The Schools of Humanities and Sciences, Engineering, and Sustainability offer programs for both undergraduate and graduate students. The Schools of Law, Medicine, Education, and Business are only for graduate students.

Students have their own government called the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU). All registered students are members. This group has elected leaders who represent undergraduate and graduate students. Stanford also benefits from a special rule in the California Constitution. This rule says that Stanford's property is not taxed as long as it is used for education.

Money and Donations

Stanford's money, called its endowment, was worth $36.5 billion in August 2023. About 22% of the university's costs in 2023 were covered by this endowment. In 2018, only Harvard University, the University of Texas System, and Yale University had larger endowments than Stanford.

The original Golden spike on display at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

In 2006, President John L. Hennessy started a fundraising campaign called the Stanford Challenge. It aimed to raise $4.3 billion and reached this goal early. By the time it ended in 2011, it had raised $6.23 billion. This money helped fund student aid, research, and new buildings. For example, it supported new fellowships for graduate students and new buildings for stem cell research and the business school.

In 2012, Stanford raised over $1 billion in one year, a first for any school. In 2022, Phil and Penny Knight, co-founders of Nike, donated $75 million. This money supports research into brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Academics at Stanford

How to Get In

First-time fall freshman statistics
	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
Applicants	55,471	45,227	47,498	47,452	44,073
Admits	2,190	2,349	2,062	2,071	2,085
Admit rate	3.9%	5.19%	4.34%	4.36%	4.73%
Enrolled	1,757	1,607	1,701	1,697	1,703
Yield	80.23%	68.41%	82.49%	81.94%	81.68%
SAT range	1420–1570	1420–1550	1440–1550	1420–1570	1390–1540
ACT range	32–35	31–35	32–35	32–35	32–35

Stanford is very selective, accepting only about 4% of applicants. This is one of the lowest acceptance rates among U.S. universities. Most accepted students have high scores on the SAT or ACT tests. Your grades in high school, class rank, and letters of recommendation are also very important. Stanford also looks at your extracurricular activities, talents, and personal qualities.

Stanford helps U.S. citizens and permanent residents with financial aid based on their need. For international students, 64% receive aid. In 2012, Stanford gave $126 million in aid to over 3,400 students. The university has a "no-loan" policy, meaning students don't have to take out loans for their education. For students starting in 2015, tuition, room, and board are free for most families earning less than $65,000. Tuition is also free for most families earning less than $125,000.

How Classes Work

Stanford uses a quarter system. The autumn quarter usually starts in late September, and the spring quarter ends in mid-June. The undergraduate program lasts four years and focuses on arts and sciences. Stanford is approved by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Research at Stanford

Hoover Tower, inspired by a cathedral tower in Salamanca, Spain.

Stanford is known for its very high research activity. In 2021-2022, the university spent $1.82 billion on research. It had 7,900 sponsored projects. The Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research oversees 18 different labs and centers. These centers also provide money for students to do research.

Other places connected to Stanford include the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Hoover Institution, which is a research center for public policy. The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design teaches students about product design, engineering, and business.

Stanford is also home to the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute. This institute works to publish Dr. King's papers. Stanford also runs the Center for Ocean Solutions, which studies ocean challenges like climate change and pollution. Stanford is part of the Biohub, a medical science research center funded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. This center works to design advanced health care units.

Libraries and Online Resources

Green Library.

By 2014, Stanford University Libraries (SUL) had 24 libraries. The Hoover Institution Library and Archives focuses on 20th-century history. Stanford's libraries hold over 9.3 million books, 1.5 million e-books, and many other digital resources. The main library is the Green Library. It has study spaces and meeting rooms. Lathrop Library has one of the largest collections of East Asian materials. Stanford University Press, started in 1892, publishes about 130 books each year.

Arts at Stanford

Bronze statues by Auguste Rodin are found around campus, including these Burghers of Calais.

Stanford has the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. This museum has 24 galleries and sculpture gardens. It was started in 1891 by Jane and Leland Stanford. The museum has one of the world's largest collections of works by Rodin. The Thomas Welton Stanford Gallery, built in 1917, is used for art exhibitions and teaching. In 2014, Stanford opened the Anderson Collection, a new museum for American art. There are also many outdoor art pieces, like sculptures and murals, around campus. The Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden has wood carvings and "totem poles."

The Stanford music department has many groups, including choirs, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, and Stanford Taiko. Students can also join theater groups like Ram's Head Theatrical Society. Stanford also has ten a cappella groups, which sing without instruments.

Stanford's Reputation

U.S. university rankings

ARWU World	2
THES World	2
USNWR National University	3 (tie)
Washington Monthly National University	2
Forbes	3

In 2014, Slate magazine called Stanford "the Harvard of the 21st century." At the same time, The New York Times called Harvard the "Stanford of the East." This showed that Stanford had become a top choice for many students. In 2019, Reuters named Stanford the World's Most Innovative University for the fifth year in a row.

In 2022, Washington Monthly ranked Stanford as the #1 university in the United States. Also in 2022, The Princeton Review ranked Stanford as the #1 "dream college" for both students and parents. The Stanford Graduate School of Business was ranked #1 among America's best business schools by Bloomberg in 2022.

From 2013 to 2020, Stanford was the most common "dream college" for students in polls by The Princeton Review. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has ranked Stanford second in the world (after Harvard) for many years. Times Higher Education calls Stanford one of the world's "six super brands" in its reputation rankings.

Discoveries and New Ideas

Science Discoveries

Felix Bloch, a physics professor and 1952 Nobel Prize winner for his work at Stanford.

DNA Synthesis – Arthur Kornberg discovered how deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is made in living things. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959 for his work at Stanford.
First Transgenic Organism – Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer were the first to move genes from one living thing to another. This was a huge step for genetic engineering.
Laser – Arthur Leonard Schawlow shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on lasers.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance – Felix Bloch developed new ways to measure magnetism in atomic nuclei. These ideas are used in MRI machines today.

Computer and Applied Science

Vint Cerf, who helped design the internet's architecture at Stanford.

ARPANET – Stanford Research Institute, which used to be part of Stanford, was one of the first four places to connect to ARPANET. This was an early version of the internet.
Internet – Stanford was where the original design of the Internet was created. Vint Cerf led a team that developed the TCP/IP protocol. This is the basic language that makes the internet work.
Frequency Modulation Synthesis – John Chowning from the Music department invented a way to create music using FM sounds in 1967. Stanford later licensed this to Yamaha.
Google – Google started in 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They were PhD students at Stanford. They were working on a project to create a universal digital library.
Klystron Tube – The brothers Russell and Sigurd Varian invented the klystron tube at Stanford in 1937. This invention quickly helped with the development of radar equipment.
RISC – Stanford and UC Berkeley helped make this computer chip design popular. The Stanford MIPS design became the successful MIPS architecture.
SUN Workstation – Andy Bechtolsheim designed the SUN workstation at Stanford. This led to the creation of Sun Microsystems.

Businesses and Entrepreneurship

Co-founders of Hewlett-Packard, Bill Hewlett (BS 1934) and David Packard (BA 1934)

Stanford is very successful at creating new companies and licensing its inventions. It is often seen as a model for how universities can help new technologies reach the public. Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing helps bring university research to the market. The university encourages students to start their own businesses and often provides funding.

Companies started by Stanford alumni make over $2.7 trillion in yearly income. They have created about 5.4 million jobs since the 1930s. If these companies were a country, they would have the tenth-largest economy in the world.

Some famous companies linked to Stanford include:

Hewlett-Packard, 1939: founded by William R. Hewlett and David Packard.
Sun Microsystems, 1982: founded by Vinod Khosla, Andy Bechtolsheim, and Scott McNealy.
Cisco, 1984: founded by Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner.
Yahoo!, 1994: founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo.
Google, 1998: founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
LinkedIn, 2002: founded by Reid Hoffman and others.
Instagram, 2010: founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
Snapchat, 2011: founded by Evan Spiegel and others.
Coursera, 2012: founded by professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller.

Student Life at Stanford

Student Population

Undergraduate demographics as of Fall 2020
Race and ethnicity	Total
White	29%	29
Asian	25%	25
Hispanic	17%	17
Non-resident Foreign nationals	11%	11
Other	10%	10
Black	7%	7
Native American	1%	1
Economic diversity
Low-income	18%	18
Affluent	82%	82

In the 2019–2020 school year, Stanford had almost 7,000 undergraduate students and over 10,000 graduate students. About half of the undergraduate students were women. Almost all freshmen (99%) returned for their second year. Stanford gives out thousands of degrees each year. The four-year graduation rate is about 73%, and the six-year rate is 94.4%. The slightly lower four-year rate is because many students stay longer to earn a master's degree at the same time as their bachelor's. In 2010, 15% of undergraduates were the first in their families to go to college.

Where Students Live

By 2013, 89% of undergraduate students lived in housing on campus. All first-year students must live on campus, and all undergraduates are guaranteed housing for all four years. Undergraduates live in 80 different places, including dorms, co-ops, and fraternity and sorority houses. Most student homes are close to classrooms and libraries. Some dorms are just for freshmen, sophomores, or upper-class students. Most are co-ed, meaning both male and female students live there.

Many students use bicycles to get around the large campus.

Several dorms are "theme" houses, focusing on things like social change, international cultures, or specific languages. There are also houses for different cultural groups, like Asian-American, Black, and Chicano/Latino students. Co-ops are houses where students work together to cook and clean. These houses often have unique themes and are centers for music, art, and philosophy.

By 2015, 55% of graduate students lived on campus. Stanford also helps graduate students find apartments off campus in nearby towns.

Sports at Stanford

The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band cheers on football fans with modern music.

In 2016, Stanford had 16 sports teams for men and 20 for women. They also had 19 club sports and about 27 intramural sports. In 1930, the athletic department chose "Indian" as their mascot. However, this symbol was removed in 1972 after Native American students objected. Now, the sports teams are officially called the "Stanford Cardinal," which refers to the deep red color. Stanford is part of the Pac-12 Conference for most sports.

Stanford's main sports rival is the University of California, Berkeley. The winner of their yearly "Big Game" in football gets to keep the Stanford Axe. As of May 2024, Stanford has won 136 NCAA team championships, more than any other school. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship every year for 48 years in a row. Stanford athletes have also won 529 NCAA individual championships. Stanford has won the NACDA Directors' Cup, given to the best overall college sports program, for 25 years in a row. Stanford athletes have won 296 Summer Olympic medals, including 26 medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Stanford Traditions

"Hail, Stanford, Hail!" is the university's song. It was written in 1892 and is sung at ceremonies.
Big Game: This is the main football rivalry between Stanford and UC Berkeley. It started in 1892 and is one of the oldest college rivalries in the U.S.
The Stanford Axe: This is a trophy given to the winner of the Big Game. It started in 1899 when a Stanford student used a lumberman's axe to cheer on the team.
Big Game Gaieties: In the week before the Big Game, students perform an original musical.
Full Moon on the Quad: This is an annual event where students gather to kiss each other at midnight. It includes live music and dance.
Fountain Hopping: Students visit Stanford's many fountains to dip their feet or swim in them.
Mausoleum Party: An annual Halloween party held at the Stanford Mausoleum, where Leland Stanford Jr. and his parents are buried.
Wacky Walk: At graduation, students wear funny costumes and walk into Stanford Stadium in a big parade.
Band Run: At the start of the school year, the band picks up freshmen from their dorms and performs at each stop.
Viennese Ball: A formal dance with waltzes that started in the 1970s.
University Motto: Stanford's unofficial motto, chosen by President Jordan, is "Die Luft der Freiheit weht." This German phrase means "The wind of freedom blows." It became official in 2002.
Degree of Uncommon Man/Uncommon Woman: Stanford does not give honorary degrees. Instead, it gives this special award to alumni who have given amazing service to the university. Famous recipients include Herbert Hoover and Bill Hewlett.

Religious Life

Students and staff at Stanford come from many different religions. The Stanford Office for Religious Life helps guide and support spiritual life on campus. It promotes discussions and friendships among people of all faiths.

Stanford Memorial Church, in the center of campus, holds Sunday services. It is also used by Catholic and other Christian groups. The church is a popular place for weddings.

The Office for Religious Life also has a center called CIRCLE (Center for Inter-Religious Community, Learning, and Experiences). It has common rooms, a sanctuary, and offices for many student religious groups. These groups include atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and Sikh organizations. The Windhover Contemplation Center, opened in 2014, provides a quiet place for students and staff to reflect.

Student Groups

Students on an urban hike organized by the Graduate Student Programming Board (GSPB).

Stanford has over 600 student organizations. These groups are often partly funded by the student government. They cover many interests, including sports, careers, community service, cultural activities, and the arts. All recognized student clubs at Stanford must be open for any interested student to join.

The Stanford Daily is a student-run newspaper that has been published since 1892. KZSU Stanford 90.1 FM is the student-run radio station. The Stanford Review is a conservative student newspaper. The Fountain Hopper is an independent student publication. Stanford also has many student groups focused on the environment and sustainability.

Many student groups focus on careers and business. The Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) helps future entrepreneurs. StartX is a non-profit group that helps student and teacher startups. Stanford Women In Business (SWIB) helps women find success in the technology industry. Stanford Marketing helps students get hands-on training with real companies.

Other groups include:

The Stanford Axe Committee, which protects the Stanford Axe.
Stanford American Indian Organization (SAIO), which hosts the annual Stanford Powwow. This is the largest student-run powwow in the country.
The Stanford Improvisors (SImps), who teach and perform improvisational theater.
Asha for Education, a group that supports education in India.

Safety on Campus

Stanford's Department of Public Safety is in charge of law enforcement and safety on campus. Its officers work with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. The department also publishes a yearly crime report. The Palo Alto Fire Department provides fire protection for the university.

Famous People from Stanford

Stanford's community of scholars includes many award winners:

2 Presidential Medal of Freedom winners.
4 Pulitzer Prize winners.
7 Wolf Foundation Prize winners.
10 recipients of the National Medal of Science.
22 Nobel Prize winners (as of 2022, 58 people connected to Stanford have won).
33 MacArthur Fellows.
29 Turing Award winners, which is like the "Nobel Prize in computer science."

Stanford alumni have started many companies. According to Forbes, Stanford has produced the second-highest number of billionaires among all universities. By 2022, 128 Stanford students or alumni have also been named Rhodes Scholars.