Commencement Weekend
Throughout the weekend, families and friends from around the world will travel to Carnegie Mellon to celebrate their graduate’s successes. While here, we hope you take the time to enjoy the food, culture and attractions that Pittsburgh has to offer.
From being named America’s Most Livable City to celebrating its 250th anniversary and from hosting the G-20 Summit to welcoming home the Super Bowl Champion Steelers and Stanley Cup Champion Penguins, Pittsburgh has had an incredible year. The city is home to top-ranked universities, world-renowned hospitals and a booming arts and theater district – a triple threat that makes Pittsburgh unique, and its residents proud.
Always innovative, the region has also generated many inventions and “firsts,” including:
- Long-distance electricity
In 1885, Westinghouse Electric developed the alternating current, allowing long-distance transmission of electricity for the first time.
- First Motion Picture Theatre
The Nickelodeon Theatre, opened by Harry Davis on Smithfield Street in 1905, was the first in the world devoted to the exhibition of motion pictures.
- First Baseball Stadium in the U.S.
Forbes Field was built in 1909 and was soon followed by similar stadiums in Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and New York.
- Daylight Savings Time
On March 18, 1919, Robert Garland, a Pittsburgh City Councilman, devised the nation’s first daylight savings plan.
- Polio Vaccine
This life-changing vaccine was developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk, a 38-year-old University of Pittsburgh researcher and professor.
- First Public Television Station
WQED, operated by the Metropolitan Pittsburgh Educational Station and home of “Mr. Rogers’s Neighborhood,” became the first community-sponsored education television station in America, when it debuted on April 1, 1954.
- The Big Mac
Created in 1967 by Jim Delligatti at this Uniontown McDonald’s, the Big Mac soon became a mainstay on the restaurant’s menus throughout the country.
For more information on how to make your stay in Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Mellon campus more comfortable, please follow the links on the left. Be sure to navigate the rest of the commencement Web site for information on events taking place throughout the weekend.
