The Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, the university was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur and philanthropist Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins is considered the first research university in the United States. Hopkins’s $7 million bequest to establish the university was the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the United States up to that time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as Johns Hopkins’ first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research. In 1900, Johns Hopkins became a founding member of the American Association of Universities. The university has since led all U.S. universities in annual research expenditures.