Columbia Univ Historical Timeline - 1754 — Founded as King's College by royal charter of George II - 1767 — Awards first medical degree in the American colonies - 1896 — Renamed Columbia University; moves to Morningside Heights - 1900 — Founding member of the Association of American Universities - 1917 — Ernest Rutherford achieves first artificial nuclear transmutation here - 1942 — Enrico Fermi's team creates first self-sustaining nuclear reaction (Chicago Pile-1 project led by Columbia faculty) - 1968 — Student protests occupy buildings; catalyst for national campus activism - 2003 — Pulitz…