Worcester Polytechnic Institute history

Both Boynton and Washburn died before the opening of the college on November 11, 1868.

Burton Marsh, (Class of 1920) is credited with being America's first traffic engineer.

Often called the "Father of Modern Rocketry," Goddard was the first to use liquid propellants as rocket fuel, and is credited with the first successful launch of a liquid-fueled rocket, from nearby Auburn, Mass., on March 16, 1926.

Richard T. Whitcomb (Class of 1943) was aeronautical engineer responsible for the "area rule" of high-speed aircraft design, the supercritical airfoil, and winglets

Robert Stempel (Class of 1955) was the inventor of the catalytic converter and former Chairman and CEO of General Motors

John W. Geils Jr. (dropped out in 1967) founded The J. Geils Band and played lead guitar.

Dean Kamen (dropped out in 1976) invented the first portable insulin pump and started the company that invented the Segway Human Transporter

In 1995, Biology professor David Adams was the first to create a mouse who suffered from Alzheimers.

Jonathan Barnett, professor in Fire Protection Engineering, was selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers and FEMA to investigate the collapse of the World Trade Center after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Comedy Festival – A formerly biennial, now annual, comedy festival hosted by WPI's Student Comedy Productions (SCP) at the end of the academic year, first produced in 2002.

Mike Abramson (Class of 2005) is the founder of the Drinksavvy, which is a start-up company selling anti date-rape straws and cups, and is the brother of Edward Austrian.

In 2010, the Interactive Media and Game Design major ranked 7th out of hundreds of universities in Top Undergraduate Game Design Programs according to The Princeton Review.

As of 2012, WPI's undergraduate program ranks at No.

In 2015, the university celebrated its first century and a half.