William Smith’s 1753 essay, A General Idea of the College of Mirania, landed in the hands of the right person: Ben Franklin.
Franklin was impressed with the work, and within two years, Smith found himself first provost of the College of Philadelphia—the institution that would eventually become Penn. Smith, who also taught at the college, was a major influence on the college’s early development, but as much as Franklin liked Smith’s academic work, he didn’t care much for the provost’s politics. Neither did other colonial leaders. In 1758, after criticizing the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly’s military policies, Smith was jailed on libel charges along with prominent Anglican and assemblyman William Moore.
Having a professor in jail didn’t seem to faze the college’s leaders, however. They ordered students under Smith’s tutelage to attend classes anyway.
The students did as they were told, and met with Smith at the Old Jail (pictured above) at 3rd and Market streets downtown. For more information and photos on this piece of Penn history, visit the University Archives web site at www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/campuses/campus1.html.
Novel plant-based approach to a better, cheaper GLP-1 delivery system
Research led by Penn Dental’s Henry Daniell investigates the use of a lettuce-based, plant-encapsulated delivery platform as a new oral delivery of two GLP-1 drugs previously approved by the FDA in injectable form.
No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise
Research led by Penn neuroscientist J. Nicholas Betley and collaborators finds that hypothalamic neurons are essential for translating physical exertion into endurance, potentially opening the door to exercise-mimicking therapies.
In honor of Valentine's Day, and as a way of fostering community in her Shakespeare in Love course, Becky Friedman took her students to the University Club for lunch one class period. They talked about the movie "Shakespeare in Love," as part of a broader conversation on how Shakespeare's works are adapted.
In Becky Friedman’s English course Shakespeare in Love, undergraduate students analyze language, genre, and adaptation in the Bard’s plays through the lens of love.
Beating the heat: Designing cooling for bodies in motion
Dorit Aviv, director of Weitzman’s Thermal Architecture Lab, studies how humans, technology, and design intersect, paving the way for the development of novel approaches to cooling people efficiently.
