Rice University, based at Houston, Texas, is one of the leading research universities in the United States. It was the first university in the world to establish a department of space science. The Johnson Space Center of NASA is located on the land donated by the university. Rice University also is a member of the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical facility in the world. Rice University was formed from an institute conceptualized by a wealthy citizen named William Marsh Rice. In 1891, he along with his friends and lawyer had chartered the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science, and Art. However, the institute was to be established after his death. Following his death in 1900, and some legal hurdles, work for the establishment of the institute began. Rice Institute received an endowment of $4.6 million from William Rice's estate, in 1904. Edgar Odell Lovett, a highly qualified mathematician and astronomer from Princeton University, was appointed as president. In order to establish an institution of the highest standards, Lovett visited 78 institutions of higher learning located in various countries. With the ideas derived from these institutions, Lovett set the foundation for the new institution. Rice Institute was, at long last, established in September 1912. This institute later became William Marsh Rice University in 1960. Today, Rice University occupies a campus measuring 285 acres, and housing 70 major buildings. The campus encompasses the schools of architecture, engineering, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and music. Additionally, the campus features state-of-the-art science and engineering laboratories, an institute for computer services, an institute for the arts, and a nuclear research laboratory. The university library, the Fondren Library, features more than two million books, three million microforms, and 16,000 current serials and periodicals. Nearly one-fourth of Rice University’s undergraduates are National Merit Scholars. The university was ranked first for the percentage of students receiving National Science Fellowships. The university boasts an endowment of $3 billion, one of the top five in the world. This generous funding has helped the university in charging a very reasonable tuition. Incidentally, the university had no tuition fees until 1965. Rice University has been ranked first among 1,600 private universities for "Best College Value" in Kiplinger's Personal Finance and first for "least amount of debt per graduate" by U.S. News & World Report. Rice University being a leading research university, houses several interdisciplinary research institutes on campus. They include the Rice Quantum Institute, the Rice Engineering Design and Development Institute, the Computer and Information Technology Institute, the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology. Much of the initial research and development of artificial hearts was carried out by Rice faculty. In 1996, Professors Richard Smalley and Robert Curl from Rice University won the prestigious Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and application of carbon 60 molecules (buckminsterfullerenes). Currently, many path-breaking research works are being carried out in the hot new field of nanotechnology.