Short answers, pulled from the story.
The University of Colorado Boulder was founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state. Its cornerstone was laid on the 20th of September, 1875, and the doors opened to students on the 5th of September, 1877.
CU Boulder is the only university in the world to have sent instruments to every planet in the Solar System. It also receives more NASA astrophysics technology grants than any other academic institution.
CU Boulder is affiliated with 12 Nobel Prize laureates. Five of them held university appointments at the time their prizes were awarded, including David J. Wineland (physics, 2012), John Hall (physics, 2005), Eric Cornell (physics, 2001), and Thomas Robert Cech (chemistry, 1989).
CU Boulder's campus architecture is called Tuscan Vernacular Revival, designed by architect Charles Klauder. It features rough textured sandstone walls, sloping red-orange-tiled roofs, and Indiana limestone trim, a style Klauder introduced around 1919 that shaped fifteen buildings between 1921 and 1939 and still guides construction today.
Mary Rippon joined CU's faculty in 1878 as its first female professor, making her one of the earliest female university instructors in the United States. She taught English grammar, German, French, and mathematics, and the outdoor theater on campus is named in her honor.
The Colorado Buffaloes have won 28 national championships: 20 in skiing, seven combined in men's and women's cross country, and one in football. The varsity teams compete in the NCAA Division I Big 12 Conference, which CU rejoined in 2024.