95. Regulatory Capture

George Stigler, who served as a professor of economics at UMN Twin Cities during World War II, charted how government regulation breaks down. His research helped explain “regulatory capture,” which charts how interest groups like industries or trade unions “capture” the agencies meant to regulate and instead, convert them to advance their economic interests. His 1982 Nobel Prize for economics reshaped how policymakers think about government, business, and the public interest.

96. Mapping the Pathway of Photosynthesis

Melvin Calvin, who earned a chemistry Ph.D. from the UMN Twin Cities in 1935, advanced our understanding how photosynthesis works. By using radioactive carbon as a tracer, Calvin and his team mapped the chemical pathway of photosynthesis, now known as the Calvin cycle. They shared the 1961 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their explanation of one of the fundamental processes that supports life.

97. Communicating With Cells

When a chemical like dopamine wants to tell a cell how to act, it gives its instructions to a kind of gatekeeper on the cell wall known as a G-protein-coupled receptor, or GPCR. UMD graduate Brian Kobilka served on a Stanford team that identified the physical structure of GPCRs—a discovery that helped drugmakers tailor treatments. Kobilka earned the 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work.

98. The Transistor Effect

Virtually every electronic device you can see depends on transistors—tiny switches that control the flow of electricity from one place to the next. You can thank UMN Twin Cities Ph.D. graduate Walter H. Brattain (reclining below) for that nifty gizmo. In 1956, he and his colleagues earned the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on semiconductors and the discovery of the transistor effect. Smaller, sturdier, and more efficient than the vacuum tubes that came before them, transistors became the building blocks of modern electronics.

99. Father of the Green Revolution

For centuries, farmers have tinkered with crop genetics, chasing after hybrid harvests that taste better, last longer, or produce more. But UMN Twin Cities graduate Norman Borlaug took this idea to a new level as the father of the “green revolution.” Borlaug created a high-yield, hardy dwarf wheat that he introduced to farmers in Mexico, Pakistan, and India. Combined with modern farming techniques, the new crops are credited with reducing food insecurity in the developing world. Among his many honors were a Nobel Peace Prize. The World Food Programme pronounced that Borlaug had “saved more lives than any man in human history.”

100. Better Read Saul

Saul Bellow, who taught at the UMN Twin Cities in the 1940s and 1950s, was a towering figure in American fiction and Jewish fiction. His best-known works include The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, and Herzog, and his 1976 Nobel Prize for literature was one of many accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize, a National Medal of Arts, and the National Book Award for fiction (three times).

101. Mr. Tambourine Man

In 1959, Robert Zimmerman left his hometown of Hibbing to enroll in the UMN Twin Cities, where he soon fell in with the local beatniks and folk singers who hung out at the Ten O’Clock Scholar coffeehouse. Zimmerman started performing at the café and coined his stage name, Bob Dylan. He moved to New York City to further his career—one that ultimately earned him a 2016 Nobel Prize in literature.

102. Generalized Method of Moments

Meteorologists predict the weather; economists the markets. But much like the atmosphere, the economy consists of a million parts. How can you model it accurately to learn anything useful? Answer: You don’t. That’s the breakthrough pioneered by Lars Peter Hansen, who earned an economics Ph.D. from UMN Twin Cities. Hansen and his colleagues shared a Nobel Prize for work on “Generalized Method of Moments” (GMM). By accounting for a handful of factors, economists can use GMM to test theories and predictions without having to model the entire economy.

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