Case Western Reserve University - Research

Research

Following is a partial list of major contributions made by faculty, staff, and students at Case Western Reserve:

• Case Western Reserve was the site of the famous Michelson-Morley interferometer experiment, conducted in 1887 by Albert Abraham Michelson of Case Institute of Technology and E. W. Morley of Western Reserve University. This experiment proved the non-existence of the ether, and provided circumstantial evidence to substantiate Einstein's special theory of relativity (Profs. Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley, 1887).
• Albert Abraham Michelson, who became the first American to win a Nobel Prize in science, taught at Case Institute of Technology. He won the prize in physics in 1907.
• Edward Morley, in 1895, discovered the atomic weight of oxygen, the basis for calculating the weights of all other elements.
• Dayton C. Miller, in 1896, performed the first full X-ray of the human body—on himself.
• George W. Crile, in 1905, performed the first modern blood transfusion, using a coupling device to connect blood vessels.
• Roger G. Perkins, in 1912, pioneered drinking water chlorination to eradicate typhoid bacilli.
• Henry J. Gerstenberger, in 1915, developed simulated infant formula.
• Claude S. Beck, in 1935, pioneered surgical treatment of coronary artery disease.
• Frederick S. Cross, in the 1950s, developed the first heart-lung machine used during open heart surgery.
• Claude S. Beck, in 1947, performed the first successful lifesaving defibrillation of the human heart and developed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
• Robert Kearns, in 1964, invented the intermittent windshield wiper used in most modern automobiles.
• Frederick Reines, in 1965, first detected neutrinos created by cosmic ray collisions with the Earth's atmosphere and developed innovative particle detectors. Case Western Reserve had selected Prof. Reines as chair of the physics department based on Reines's work that first detected neutrinos emitted from a nuclear reactor—work for which Reines shared a 1995 Nobel Prize.
• Eric Baer, in 1967, pioneered the materials science of polymers and created the first comprehensive polymer science and engineering department at a major U.S. university.
• Joseph F. Fagan, in 1987, developed a test for infants to identify mental retardation within one year of birth.
• Huntington F. Willard of the School of Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland—collaborating with colleagues at Athersys, Inc., in 1997—created the first artificial human chromosomes, opening the door to more detailed study of human genetics and potentially offering a new approach to gene therapy.
• Tshilidzi Marwala, in 2006, began work on Local Loop Unbundling in Africa. He also chaired the Local Loop Unbundling Committee on behalf of the South African Government.
• Roger Quinn, in 2001, developed robots such as Whegs that mimic cockroaches and other crawling insects (Case Biorobotics Lab)
• In 2007, a team from Case Western Reserve participated in the DARPA Urban Challenge with a robotic car named DEXTER. Team Case placed as one of 36 semi-finalists. DEXTER was the only car in the race without any seating for humans, and the only one built from scratch as a robot car.

Today, the university operates several facilities off campus for scientific research. One notable example of this is the Warner and Swasey Observatory at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.