Johns Hopkins University (JHU), often abbreviated as Hopkins, is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Incorporated in 1867 and opened in 1876 based on the European research institution model, Johns Hopkins is considered to be the first research university in the U.S. The university was named for its first benefactor, the American businessman and Quaker philanthropist Johns Hopkins. Hopkins's $7 million bequest (equivalent to $171 million in 2025) to establish the university and the affiliated Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore was the largest philanthropic gift in U.S. history up to that time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as Johns Hopkins's first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research.