University of California, Berkeley facts for kids

The seal of the University of California, Berkeley from 1868.

Sather Tower looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais.

The University of California, Berkeley, often called Cal or just Berkeley, is a big university in Berkeley, California, United States. It's the oldest of the ten main campuses that are part of the University of California system. Berkeley offers around 300 different study programs for students who want to earn a degree. The main part of the campus is about 200 acres big.

The university started in 1868 when two colleges, the private College of California and the public Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College, joined together. Berkeley was one of the first members of the Association of American Universities. Many famous people have been connected to the university, including 61 Nobel Prize winners who worked or studied there. During World War II, scientists at Berkeley helped with the Manhattan Project. Today, the university helps manage two important national laboratories: the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Sports and Teams

Students at Berkeley are known as the California Golden Bears when they play sports against other universities. They are part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in the NCAA. Cal teams have won many national championships in sports like football, men's basketball, baseball, softball, water polo, rugby, and crew.

Even more impressively, students from Cal have won over 100 Olympic medals! The official colors for the university and its sports teams are Berkeley blue and California gold.

Images for kids

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  View from Memorial Glade of Sather Tower (the Campanile), which is the center of Berkeley. You can hear its bells and clock all over campus.

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  Wheeler Hall, which has Berkeley's biggest lecture hall. A Nobel Prize was even given out here during World War II.

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  The front of Doe Library, designed by John Galen Howard, with Memorial Glade in front.

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  The Morrison Library, a special reading room inside Doe Library. It often hosts speeches and talks on campus.

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  The University of California Museum of Paleontology on campus has a life-size model of a T-rex.

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  Sather Gate, which connects Sproul Plaza to the main campus. It was a key spot during the Free Speech Movement.

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  The Doe Library, Bancroft Library, and Sather Tower looking south.

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  The UC Botanical Garden, located in the Berkeley Hills near the Berkeley Lab.

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  South Hall (1873) is one of the first two buildings of the University of California and is still on campus.

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  The south part of Strawberry Creek, seen between Dwinelle Hall and Lower Sproul Plaza.

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  Fans on Tightwad Hill watching the Cal Band, with views of the stadium and the San Francisco Bay.

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  The International House opened in 1930 with money from John D. Rockefeller.

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  Bowles Hall, a living space for students, is next to the Hearst Greek Theatre.

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  Clark Kerr Residential Campus.

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  UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra.

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  The base of the California Memorial Stadium.

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  The Cal Bears playing against the Stanford Cardinal in the Big Game.

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  The computer mouse was invented by Doug Engelbart, who studied at Berkeley.

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  Tonika Sealy-Thompson became Barbados' Ambassador to Brazil.

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  Robert Laughlin, who earned his BA at Berkeley, is a Nobel Prize winner.

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  Ken Thompson (left) and Dennis Ritchie (right), both Turing Award winners, created Unix together. Ken Thompson studied at Berkeley.

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  Robert Penn Warren, a novelist and poet who received the Pulitzer Prize three times, earned his MA at Berkeley.

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  Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actress Kathy Baker, who earned her BA at Berkeley.

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  Earl Warren, who studied at Berkeley, was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States and 30th Governor of California.

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  Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize winner and former United States Secretary of Energy, earned his PhD at Berkeley.

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  Jennifer Granholm, who earned her BA at Berkeley, was the first female Governor of Michigan.

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  Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who earned his BA at Berkeley, was the 4th President of Pakistan and 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan.

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  Robert Reich, a Professor of Public Policy at Berkeley, was the 22nd United States Secretary of Labor.

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  Christina Romer, a Professor of Economics at Berkeley, was the 25th Chairperson of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

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  Steve Wozniak, who earned his BS at Berkeley, is a co-founder of Apple Inc..

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  Gordon Moore, who earned his BS at Berkeley, is a co-founder of the semiconductor company Intel.

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  Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr, who earned his BA at Berkeley, is a former Governor of California and California Attorney General.

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  Gregory Peck, who earned his BA at Berkeley, was an Academy Award–winning actor.

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  Natalie Coughlin, who earned her BA at Berkeley, is an Olympic swimmer with many gold medals.

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  Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway, who earned his BA at Berkeley.

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  Robert McNamara, who earned his BA at Berkeley, was President of World Bank (1968–81), United States Secretary of Defense (1961–68), and President of Ford Motor Company (1960).

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  Daniel Kahneman, who earned his PhD at Berkeley, won the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work in Prospect theory.

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  Harold Urey, who earned his PhD at Berkeley, was a Nobel Prize winner and discovered deuterium.

See also

In Spanish: Universidad de California en Berkeley para niños