school in the United States.
Tulane has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1958 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Alumni include 12 governors of Louisiana; 1 Chief Justice of the United States; members of the United States Congress, including a Speaker of the House; 2 Surgeons General of the United States; 23 Marshall Scholars; 18 Rhodes Scholars; 15 Truman Scholars; 155 Fulbright Scholars; 4 living billionaires; and a former President of Costa Rica. Two Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university.
== History ==
=== Founding and early history – 19th century ===
The university was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 partly as a response to the fears of smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera in the United States. The university became the second medical school in the South, and the 15th in the United States at the time. In 1847, the state legislature established the school as the University of Louisiana, …
