Frequently Asked Questions about Johns Hopkins Who was Mr. Johns Hopkins?
A businessman, bank president and railroad magnate, Johns Hopkins was the most powerful financier in Baltimore during the mid-1800s. When he died a bachelor in 1873, at the age of 78, Mr. Hopkins provided in his will for the creation of a university dedicated to advance learning and scientific research, and a hospital to administer the finest patient care, train superior physicians, and seek new knowledge for the advancement of medicine. Through his wishes, Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital were established, the first time that a hospital and a university were linked together in the United States. Mr. Hopkins’ first name, Johns, was his mother’s maiden name.
