Princeton is a municipality with a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

form of government in Mercer County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawar ...

. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of which are now defunct. Centrally located within the Raritan Valley region, Princeton is a regional commercial hub for the Central New Jersey region and a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

.New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

. Accessed December 5, 2020. As of the

2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, the municipality's population was 28,572, reflecting the former township's population of 16,265, along with the 12,307 in the former borough.DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for Princeton township, Mercer County, New Jersey
,

. Accessed August 20, 2012.Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2010 for Princeton township
,

New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north ...

. Accessed August 20, 2012.DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for Princeton borough, Mercer County, New Jersey
,

. Accessed November 20, 2012.Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2010 for Princeton borough
,

. Accessed November 20, 2012. Princeton was founded before the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

. It is the home of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, which bears its name and moved to the community in 1756 from its previous location in Newark. Although its association with the university is primarily what makes Princeton a

college town A college town or university town is a community (often a separate town or city, but in some cases a town/city neighborhood or a district) that is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several sma ...

, other important institutions in the area include the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

, Westminster Choir College,

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an energy source. It is known ...

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly ...

, Opinion Research Corporation,

Bristol-Myers Squibb The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the la ...

, Siemens Corporate Research,

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support econom ...

FMC Corporation FMC Corporation is an American chemical manufacturing company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which originated as an insecticide producer in 1883 and later diversified into other industries. In 1941 at the beginning of US involvemen ...

, The

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

, Amrep,

Church and Dwight Church & Dwight is an American consumer goods company focusing on personal care, household products, and specialty products. The company was founded in 1846 and is headquartered in Ewing, New Jersey. It is the parent company of well-known brands ...

, Berlitz International, and

Dow Jones & Company Dow Jones & Company, Inc. is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp and led by CEO Almar Latour. The company publishes ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' Barron's'', '' MarketWatch'', ''Mansion Global'', '' Financial News'' and '' Priva ...

. Princeton is roughly equidistant from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. It is close to many major highways that serve both cities (e.g.,

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Ca ...

and U.S. Route 1), and receives major television and radio broadcasts from each. It is also close to Trenton, New Jersey's capital city,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English a ...

and

Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

. The New Jersey governor's official residence has been in Princeton since 1945, when Morven in what was then Princeton Borough became the first Governor's mansion. In 1982, it was replaced by the larger Drumthwacket, a colonial mansion located in the former Township, but not all have actually lived in these houses. Morven became a museum property of the New Jersey Historical Society. Princeton was ranked 15th of the top 100 towns in the United States to Live In by ''

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are a ...

'' magazine in 2005. Throughout much of its history, the community was composed of two separate municipalities: a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

and a

. The central borough was completely surrounded by the township. The borough seceded from the township in 1894 in a dispute over school taxes; the two municipalities later formed the Princeton Public Schools, and some other public services were conducted together before they were reunited into a single Princeton in January 2013. Princeton Borough contained Nassau Street, the main commercial street, most of the university campus, and incorporated most of the urban area until the postwar suburbanization. The borough and township had roughly equal populations.

History

Early history

Map of the Battle of Princeton, NJ January 2-3, 1777

The

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

Native Americans were the earliest identifiable inhabitants of the Princeton area. Europeans settled into the area in the late part of the 17th century, arriving from Delaware to settle West Jersey, and from New York to settle

East Jersey The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jers ...

, with the site destined to become Princeton being amid the wilderness between these two boroughs. The first European to find his home in the boundaries of the future municipality was Henry Greenland. He built his house in 1683 along with a tavern, where representatives of West and East Jersey met to set the boundaries between the two provinces.A Brief History of Princeton
, Princeton, New Jersey. Accessed November 29, 2019. "In 1683 a New Englander named Henry Greenland built a house on the highway which is believed to be the first by a European within the present municipal boundaries. He opened it as a 'house of accommodation' or tavern.... East Jersey and West Jersey representatives met in 1683 at Greenland's tavern to establish their common boundary." Greenland's son-in-law Daniel Brimson inhabited the area by 1690, and left property in a will dated 1696. Then, Princeton was known only as part of nearby Stony Brook. Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, a native of the town, attested in his private journal on December 28, 1758, that Princeton was named in 1724 upon the making/construction of the first house in the area by James Leonard, who first referred to the community as ''Princetown'' when describing the location of his large estate in his diary.''History of Burlington and Mercer counties. New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of their Pioneers and Prominent Men''
Everts & Peck, Philadelphia, 1883. The community was later known by a variety of names, including: ''Princetown'', ''Prince's Town'' and finally ''Princeton''.Hageman, John Frelinghuysen

/ref> The name Princeton was first used in 1724 and became common within the subsequent decade. Although there is no official documentary backing, the municipality is said to be named after King William III, Prince William of Orange of the House of Nassau. Another theory suggests that the name came from a large land-owner named Henry Prince, the son-in-law of a well-known English merchant, but no evidence backs this contention. A royal prince seems a more likely eponym for the settlement, as three nearby towns had names for royalty: Kingston, Queenstown (in the vicinity of the intersection of Nassau and Harrison Streets) and Princessville (Lawrence Township). Princeton was described by William Edward Schenck in 1850 as having attained "no very considerable size" until the establishment of the College of New Jersey in the town. When Richard Stockton, one of the founders of the township, died in 1709 he left his estate to his sons, who helped to expand property and the population. Based on the 1880 United States Census, the population of Princeton comprised 3,209 persons (not including students). Local population has expanded from the nineteenth century. According to the 2010 Census, Princeton Borough had 12,307 inhabitants, while Princeton Township had 16,265. The numbers have become stagnant; since the arrival of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, in 1756, the town's population spikes every year during the fall and winter and drops significantly over the course of the summer.

Revolution

In the pivotal

Battle of Princeton The Battle of Princeton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought near Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777, and ending in a small victory for the Colonials. General Lord Cornwallis had left 1,400 British troops under the comma ...

in January 1777,

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

forced the British to evacuate southern New Jersey. After the victory, Princeton hosted the first Legislature under the State Constitution to decide the State's seal, Governor and organization of its government. In addition, two of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence— Richard Stockton and John Witherspoon lived in Princeton. Princetonians honored their citizens' legacy by naming two streets in the downtown area after them. On January 10, 1938, Henry Ewing Hale called for a group of citizens to establish a "Historical Society of Princeton." Later the Bainbridge House, constructed in 1766 by Job Stockton, would be dedicated for this purpose. Previously the house was used once for a meeting of

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

in 1783, a general office, and as the Princeton Public Library. The House is owned by Princeton University and is leased to the Princeton Historical Society for one dollar per year. The house has kept its original staircase, flooring and paneled walls. Around 70% of the house has been unaltered. Aside from safety features such as wheelchair access and electrical work, the house has been restored to its original look.

Government history

During the most stirring events in its history, Princeton was a wide spot in the road; the boundary between Somerset County and Middlesex County ran right through Princeton, along the high road between New York and Philadelphia, now Nassau Street. When Mercer County was formed in 1838, part of West Windsor Township was added to the portion of Montgomery Township which was included in the new county, and made into Princeton Township; the area between the southern boundary of the former Borough and the Delaware and Raritan Canal was added to Princeton Township in 1853. Princeton Borough became a separate municipality in 1894. In the early nineteenth century, New Jersey boroughs had been quasi-independent subdivisions chartered within existing townships that did not have full autonomy. Princeton Borough received such a charter in 1813, as part of Montgomery and West Windsor Townships; it continued to be part of Princeton Township until the Borough Act of 1894, which required that each township to form a single school district; rather than do so, Princeton Borough petitioned to be separated. (The two Princetons combined their public school systems in the decades before municipal consolidation.) Two minor boundary changes united the then site of the Princeton Hospital and of the Princeton Regional High School inside the Borough, in 1928 and 1951 respectively.Snyder, John P
''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''
Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. See p. 23 and 164, which cites the Acts of the NJ Legislature 1843, p. 67; 1853, p. 361, for the changes of those years.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Princeton had a total area of 18.41 square miles (47.69 km²), including 17.95 square miles (46.48 km²) of land and 0.47 square miles (1.21 km²) of water (2.53%). Cedar Grove, Port Mercer, Princeton Basin, and Jugtown are unincorporated communities that have been absorbed into Greater Princeton over the years, but still maintain their own community identity. Princeton borders the municipalities of Hopewell Township, Lawrence and West Windsor Townships in Mercer County; Plainsboro Township and South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County; and Franklin Township and Montgomery Township in Somerset County. United States Postal ZIP codes for Princeton include 08540, 08541 (

Educational Testing Service Educational Testing Service (ETS), founded in 1947, is the world's largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization. It is headquartered in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, but has a Princeton address. ETS develops va ...

), 08542 (largely the old Borough), 08543 (

PO box A post office box (commonly abbreviated as P.O. box, or also known as a postal box) is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office. In some regions, particularly in Africa, there is no door to door delivery ...

es), and 08544 (the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Sta ...

Climate

Under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, Princeton falls within either a hot-summer humid continental climate (''Dfa'') if the isotherm is used or a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40� ...

(''Cfa'') if the isotherm is used. During the summer months, episodes of extreme heat and humidity can occur with

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the shade. The result is al ...

values ≥ 100 °F (≥ 38 °C). On average, the wettest month of the year is July which corresponds with the annual peak in

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are so ...

activity. During the winter months, episodes of extreme cold and wind can occur with

wind chill Wind chill or windchill (popularly wind chill factor) is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air. Wind chill numbers are always lower than the air temperature for values where the formula is valid. When ...

values < 0 °F (< −18 °C). The plant hardiness zone at the Princeton Municipal Court is 6b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of −0.9 °F (−18.3 °C).USDA Interactive Plant Hardiness Map
,

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

. Accessed November 26, 2019. The average seasonal (November–April) snowfall total is and the average snowiest month is February which corresponds with the annual peak in

nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...

activity.

Ecology

According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S.

potential natural vegetation In ecology, potential natural vegetation (PNV), also known as Kuchler potential vegetation, is the vegetation that would be expected given environmental constraints (climate, geomorphology, geology) without human intervention or a hazard even ...

types, Princeton, New Jersey, would have an Appalachian

Oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ...

(''104'') vegetation type with an Eastern

Hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which come ...

Forest (''25'') vegetation form.U.S. Potential Natural Vegetation, Original Kuchler Types, v2.0 (Spatially Adjusted to Correct Geometric Distortions)
Data Basin. Accessed November 26, 2019.

Demographics

As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, the borough and township had a combined population of 28,572. According to the website Data USA, Princeton has a population of 30,168 people, of which 85% are US citizens. The ethnic composition of the population is 20,393 White residents (67.6%), 4,636 Asian residents (15.4%), 2,533 Hispanic residents (8.4%), 1,819 Black residents (6.03%), and 618 Two+ residents (2.05%). The most common foreign languages are Chinese (1,800 speakers), Spanish (1,429 speakers), and French (618 speakers), but compared to other places, Princeton has a relatively high number of speakers of Scandinavian languages (425 speakers), Italian (465 speakers), and German (1,000 speakers).

Government and politics

Local government

Princeton is governed under the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

form of New Jersey municipal government, which is used in 218 municipalities (of the 564) statewide, making it the most common form of government in New Jersey. The governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the Borough Council, with all positions elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. The Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council is comprised of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle. The Borough form of government used by Princeton is a "

weak mayor Weak may refer to: Songs * "Weak" (AJR song), 2016 * "Weak" (Melanie C song), 2011 * "Weak" (SWV song), 1993 * "Weak" (Skunk Anansie song), 1995 * "Weak", a song by Seether from '' Seether: 2002-2013'' Television episodes * "Weak" (''Fear t ...

/ strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.Governing Body
, Princeton, New Jersey. Accessed January 1, 2013. The Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office, serves as Princeton's chief executive officer and nominates appointees to various boards and commissions subject to approval of the council. The Mayor presides at Council meetings and votes in the case of a tie or a few other specific cases. The Council consists of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle. The council has administrative powers and is the policy-making body for Princeton. The Council approves appointments made by the Mayor. Council Members serve on various boards and committees and act as liaisons to certain Departments, Committees or Boards. , the mayor of Princeton is Democrat Mark Freda, who is serving a four-year term expiring on December 31, 2023.Mayor Mark Freda
Princeton, New Jersey. Accessed April 28, 2022. Members of the Princeton Council are Council President Leticia Fraga (D, 2023), David F. Cohen (D, 2023), Eve Niedergang (D, 2024), Michelle Pirone Lambros (D, 2022), Leighton Newlin (D, 2024) and Mia Sacks (D, 2022).Council
Municipality of Princeton. Accessed April 28, 2022.Mercer County Elected Officials
Mercer County, New Jersey, as of January 6, 2021. Accessed April 28, 2022.General Election November 2, 2021 Official Results
Mercer County, New Jersey, updated November 20, 2021. Accessed January 1, 2022.General Election November 3, 2020 Official Results
Mercer County, New Jersey, updated November 20, 2020. Accessed January 1, 2021.General Election November 2019 Official Results (Amended November 25, 2019)
Mercer County, New Jersey, updated December 9, 2019. Accessed January 1, 2020. In 2018, Princeton had an average property tax bill of $19,388, the highest in the county, compared to an average bill of $8,767 statewide.

Merger of borough and township

The first attempt to consolidate borough and township was made in the 1950's (and failed). Two subsequent attempts were voted down by borough residents, in large part due to different zoning needs of the densely populated borough versus the more suburban township (surrounding the borough). The ability to win a vote for consolidation in the township required, finally, the participation of numerous Princeton University students, who did not have the same concerns about zoning that property-owning residents of the borough had. After four previous efforts at consolidation had failed, the residents of both the Borough of Princeton and the Township of Princeton voted on November 8, 2011, to merge the two municipalities into one. Student voters were active throughout the campaign and likely contributed strongly to the measure passing. In Princeton Borough 1,385 voted for and 902 voted against, while in Princeton Township 3,542 voted for and 604 voted against. Proponents of the merger asserted that when the merger is completed the new municipality of Princeton would save $3.2 million as a result of some scaled down services including layoffs of 15 government workers including 9 police officers (however the measure itself does not mandate such layoffs). Opponents of the measure challenged the findings of a report citing a cost savings as unsubstantiated, expressed concerns about differing zoning needs between borough and township, and noted that voter representation would be reduced in a smaller government structure. The merger was the first in the state since 1997, when Pahaquarry Township voted to consolidate with Hardwick Township The consolidation took effect on January 1, 2013.

Federal, state and county representation

Princeton is located in the 12th Congressional DistrictPlan Components Report

New Jersey Redistricting Commission The New Jersey Redistricting Commission is a constitutional body of the government of New Jersey tasked with redrawing the state's Congressional election districts after each decade's census. Like Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington; ...

, December 23, 2011. Accessed February 1, 2020. and is part of New Jersey's 16th state legislative district.Municipalities Sorted by 2011-2020 Legislative District

New Jersey Department of State The secretary of state of New Jersey oversees the Department of State, which is one of the original state offices. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing artistic, cultural, and historical programs within the U.S. state of New Jersey, as ...

. Accessed February 1, 2020.''2019 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government''
New Jersey League of Women Voters. Accessed October 30, 2019. Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 Census, the former Princeton Borough and Princeton Township had both been in the 15th state legislative district.''2011 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government''
, p. 63, New Jersey League of Women Voters. Accessed January 9, 2013.

Politics

As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 18,049 registered voters in Princeton (a sum of the former borough and township's voters), of which 9,184 (50.9%) were registered as Democrats, 2,140 (11.9%) were registered as Republicans and 6,703 (37.1%) were registered as unaffiliated. There were 22 voters registered as

Libertarians Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's enc ...

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Eu ...

. In both the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh c ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

presidential elections, the Democratic nommiee received over 80% of the vote. In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

received 75.4% of the vote (9,461 cast), ahead of Republican

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachuset ...

with 23.0% (2,882 votes), and other candidates with 1.6% (205 votes), among the 14,752 ballots cast by the municipality's 20,328 registered voters (2,204 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 72.6%. In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat Barbara Buono received 58.8% of the vote (4,172 cast), ahead of Republican

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in ...

with 39.2% (2,780 votes), and other candidates with 2.0% (145 votes), among the 7,279 ballots cast by the municipality's 18,374 registered voters (182 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 39.6%.

Education

Colleges and universities

, one of the world's most prominent

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

universities, is a dominant feature of the community. Established in 1746 as the College of New Jersey and relocated to Princeton ten years later, Princeton University's main campus has its historic center on Nassau Street and stretches south from there. Its James Forrestal satellite campus is located in Plainsboro Township, and some playing fields lie within adjacent West Windsor Township. Princeton University is often featured at or near the top of various national and global university rankings, topping the 2019 list of '' U.S. News & World Report''."National University Rankings"
'' U.S. News & World Report''. Accessed November 29, 2019. Westminster Choir College, a school of music presently owned by Rider University, was established in Princeton in 1932. Before relocating to Princeton, the school resided in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...

and then briefly in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named ...

, the first and oldest seminary in America of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has its main academic campus in Princeton, with residential housing located just outside of Princeton in West Windsor Township. The

maintains extensive land holdings (the "Institute Woods") there covering . Mercer County Community College in West Windsor is a two-year public college serving Princeton residents and all those from Mercer County.

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

The Princeton Public Schools serve students in

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschoo ...

through

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 1 ...

.District Policy 9110 - Number of Members and Term of Office
Princeton Public Schools. Accessed September 3, 2020. "The Princeton Public Schools District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of the Municipality of Princeton and receives high school students from the Cranbury Public School District.... The Princeton Board of Education shall consist of ten members, nine of which are elected for three year terms and one from the Cranbury Board of Education." Students from Cranbury Township attend the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 3,740 students and 341.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.0:1.District information for Princeton Public Schools

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the independent, non-partisan statistics, research, a ...

. Accessed February 15, 2022. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the

) are Community Park School with 332 students in grades K-5, Johnson Park School with 329 students in grades PreK-5, Littlebrook School with 342 students in grades K-5, Riverside School with 289 students in grades PreK-5, Princeton Middle School with 803 students in grades 6-8 and Princeton High School with 1,555 students in grades 9-12.''2021-2022 Mercer County Charter and Public Schools Directory''
Mercer County, New Jersey. Accessed December 17, 2022. ''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey. The magazine was started in 1976. It is based in Morristown. In addition to articles of general interest, the publication fe ...

'' magazine ranked Princeton High School as the 20th best high school in New Jersey in its 2018 rankings of the "Top Public High Schools" in New Jersey. The school was also ranked as the 10th best school in New Jersey by '' U.S. News & World Report.''

Niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

ranked Princeton High School as the 47th best public high school in America in its "2021 Best Public High Schools in America" rankings. In the early 1990s, redistricting occurred between the Community Park and Johnson Park School districts, as the population within both districts had increased due to residential development. Concerns were also raised about the largely white, wealthy student population attending Johnson Park (JP) and the more racially and economically diverse population at Community Park (CP). As a result of the redistricting, portions of the affluent Western Section neighborhood were redistricted to CP, and portions of the racially and economically diverse John Witherspoon neighborhood were redistricted to JP. The Princeton Charter School (grades K–8) operates under a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

granted by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education. The school is a public school that operates independently of the Princeton Regional Schools, and is funded on a per student basis by locally raised tax revenues. Eighth grade students from all of Mercer County are eligible to apply to attend the high school programs offered by the Mercer County Technical Schools, a county-wide vocational school district that offers full-time career and technical education at its Health Sciences Academy, STEM Academy and Academy of Culinary Arts, with no tuition charged to students for attendance.

Private schools

Private schools located in Princeton include The Lewis School of Princeton, Princeton Day School, Princeton Friends School, Hun School of Princeton, and Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science (PRISMS). St. Paul's Catholic School (pre-school to 8th grade) founded in 1878, is the oldest and only coeducational Catholic school, joining Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart (K–8, all male) and Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart (coed for Pre-K, and all-female K–12), which operate under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton. Schools that are outside of Princeton but have Princeton addresses include the Wilberforce School, Chapin School in Lawrence Township, Princeton Junior School in Lawrence Township, the French-American School of Princeton, the Laurel School of Princeton, the Waldorf School of Princeton, YingHua International School, Princeton Latin Academy in Hopewell, Princeton Montessori School in Montgomery Township, Eden Institute in West Windsor Township, and the now-defunct American Boychoir School in Plainsboro Township.

Public libraries

The Princeton Public Library's current facility on Witherspoon Street was opened in April 2004 as part of the ongoing downtown redevelopment project and replaced a building dating from 1966. The library itself was founded in 1909.

Miscellaneous education

The Princeton Community Japanese Language School teaches weekend Japanese classes for Japanese citizen children abroad to the standard of the

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community ...

(MEXT), and it also has classes for people with Japanese as a second language. The main office of the school is in Princeton although the office used on Sundays is in Memorial Hall at Rider University in Lawrence Township in Mercer County.Home

Archive
. Princeton Community Japanese Language School. Accessed May 9, 2014. "PCJLS Office 14 Moore Street, Princeton, NJ 08542" and "Sunday Office Rider University, Memorial Hall, Rm301" Courses are taught at Memorial Hall at Rider University. The Princeton Learning Cooperative provides support for student-directed learning as "a hybrid of homeschooling and school" for teens.

Transportation

Roads and highways

, the borough had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality, by Mercer County, and by the

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportat ...

. US 206 and Route 27 pass through Princeton, along with County Routes 583, 526/

571 __NOTOC__ Year 571 ( DLXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 571 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

(commonly known as Washington Road) and 533. Other major roads that are accessible outside the municipality include

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, makin ...

(in Lawrence, West Windsor & South Brunswick),

I-287 Interstate 287 (I-287) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US states of New Jersey and New York. It is a partial beltway around New York City, serving the northern half of New Jersey and the counties of Rockland and Westchester i ...

(in Franklin), I-295 (in Lawrence), and the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not con ...

/ I-95 (in South Brunswick). The closest Turnpike exits are Interchange 8A in Monroe Township, Interchange 8 in East Windsor Township, and Interchange 7A in Robbinsville Township. A number of proposed highways around Princeton have been canceled. The Somerset Freeway (I-95) was to pass just outside the municipality before ending in Hopewell (to the south) and Franklin (to the north). This project was canceled in 1980. Route 92 was supposed to remedy the lack of limited-access highways to the greater Princeton area. The road would have started at Route 1 near Ridge Road in South Brunswick and ended at Exit 8A of the Turnpike. However, that project was cancelled in 2006.

Public transportation

Princeton is roughly equidistant from

and

. Since the 19th century, it has been connected by rail to both of these cities by the Princeton Branch rail line to the nearby Princeton Junction Station on

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canad ...

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmingto ...

.''Princeton Companion'', by Alexander Leitch: "Harper, George MacLean" The Princeton train station was moved from under Blair Hall to a more southerly location on University Place in 1918, and was moved further southeast in 2013. Commuting to New York from Princeton became commonplace after the Second World War. While the Amtrak ride time is similar to New York and to Philadelphia, the commuter-train ride to New York—via

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bus ...

Northeast Corridor Line The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Rai ...

—is generally much faster than the equivalent train ride to Philadelphia, which involves a transfer to

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five c ...

trains in Trenton. NJ Transit provides shuttle service between the Princeton and Princeton Junction stations; the train is locally called the "Dinky",Train Travel
,

. Accessed August 29, 2014. and has also been known as the "PJ&B" (for "Princeton Junction and Back"). Two train cars, or sometimes just one, are used. NJ Transit provides bus service to Trenton on the

606 __NOTOC__ Year 606 ( DCVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 606 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

route and local service on route 605. Coach USA Suburban Transit operates frequent daily service to midtown NYC on the 100 route, and weekday rush-hour service to downtown NYC on the 600 route. Princeton and Princeton University provide the FreeB and Tiger Transit local bus services.

Air

Princeton Airport is a public airport located north of Downtown Princeton in Montgomery Township. The private Forrestal Airport was located on Princeton University property, east of the main campus, from the early 1950s through the early 1990s. The closest commercial airport is Trenton-Mercer Airport in Ewing Township, about from the center of Princeton, which is served by

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

nonstop to and from 17 cities. Other nearby major airports are

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Co ...

and Philadelphia International Airport, located and away, respectively.

Sister cities

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), ...

, France * Pettoranello del Molise, Italy

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Princeton include: ''Note: this list does not include people whose only time in Princeton was as a student. Only selected faculty are shown, whose notability extends beyond their field into popular culture. See Faculty and Alumni lists above.'' * Matthew Abelson,

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion- stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more tra ...

player * Robert Adrain (1775–1843), Irish-born mathematician known for his formulation of the method of least squares *

George Akerlof George Arthur Akerlof (born June 17, 1940) is an American economist and a university professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and Koshland Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. ...

(born 1940), economist who shared the 2001

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...

* Archibald Alexander (1772–1851), Presbyterian theologian and first professor at the

* James Waddel Alexander (1804–1859), Presbyterian minister and theologian * Joseph Addison Alexander (1809–1860), biblical scholar * William Cowper Alexander (1806–1874), lawyer, politician and insurance executive, who served as President of the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 23 ...

and as President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society *

Svetlana Alliluyeva Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva, born Stalina (); ka, სვეტლანა იოსების ასული ალილუევა () (28 February 1926 – 22 November 2011), later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only ...

(1926–2011), daughter of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, defected to United States and lived in Princeton * Lylah M. Alphonse (born 1972), journalist * Saul Amarel (1928–2002), professor of computer science at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

, best known for his pioneering work in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speec ...

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish ...

(born 1964), of the band

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike ...

, lived in Princeton with his family and attended Princeton Day School * William H. Angoff (–1993), research scientist who worked for the

, where he helped improve the SAT * James Isbell Armstrong (1919–2013), academic who was President of

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from al ...

from 1963 to 1975 * Milton Babbitt (1916–2011), composer and Princeton University professor * William Bainbridge (1774–1833), Commodore in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnag ...

* Molly Bang (born 1943), children's book illustrator *

George Barna George Barna (born 1954) is the founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture. From 2013 - 2018 he served as the executiv ...

(born 1954), founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans * Chris Barron (born 1968), lead singer of the Spin Doctors * Charles Clinton Beatty (1800–1880), Presbyterian minister, seminary founder and academic philanthropist *

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only ...

(1915–2005), author and Princeton University professor Schmitt, Eric
"Upton Sinclair's Princeton Hideway"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', July 21, 1985. Accessed August 22, 2013. "They now know that Upton Sinclair, the muckraking author of ''The Jungle'' and other novels, built the cabin and lived there more than 80 years ago.... Ultimately, Mrs. Bowers would like to restore the cabin and have either Princeton Township or Princeton University maintain it, an idea suggested by John McPhee, the author, who lives in Princeton.... Alfred Bush, a curator in the rare books department of the Princeton University Library, said: 'Thomas Mann, T. S. Eliot and Saul Bellow all lived and wrote here.'" * Paul Benacerraf (born 1931), philosopher and Princeton University professor *

Peter Benchley Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author, screenwriter, and ocean activist. He is known for his bestselling novel '' Jaws'' and co-wrote its film adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his work ...

(1940–2006), author and screenwriter, '' Jaws'', '' The Island'', lived and died in Princeton * Wendy Benchley (born 1941), marine and environmental conservation advocate and former Princeton Borough councilwoman who was the wife of author

* Ed Berger (1949–2017), librarian, discographer, author, editor, historian, photographer, educator, jazz producer and record label owner * Stanley S. Bergen Jr. (1929–2019),

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner ( Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through ...

university president A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

, and professor, who was President of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey from 1971 to 1998 * Laurie Berkner (born 1969), musician best known for her work as a

children's music Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...

al artist *

Geoffrey Berman Geoffrey Steven Berman (born September 12, 1959) is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020. Berman served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern ...

(born 1959), lawyer currently serving as the Interim

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan. Establis ...

* Garrett Birkhoff (1911–1996),

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History ...

best known for his work in lattice theory * Cyril Edwin Black (1915–1989), professor of history and international affairs, specializing in the modern history of Eastern Europe and, in particular, Russian history since 1700 * Michael Bradley (born 1987), soccer player * Avery Brooks (born 1948), actor, singer and educator * George Harold Brown (1908–1987), research engineer at RCA, lived in Princeton *

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexan ...

(1756–1836), third Vice President of the United States (under

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the nati ...

); killed

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charl ...

in a duel, grew up in Princeton and is buried there * Aaron Burr Sr. (1715–1757), co-founder of

and its second president * Lesley Bush (born 1947), diver who represented the United States at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this h ...

in Tokyo, where she received a gold medal in the 10 meter platform * Sim Cain (born 1963), drummer for

Rollins Band Rollins Band was an American rock band formed in Van Nuys, California. The band was active from 1987 to 2006 and was led by former Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins. They are best known for the songs " Low Self Opinion" and " Liar", which bo ...

, grew up in Princeton * Marsha Campbell (born 1946), politician who served in the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

* Melisa Can (born 1984 as Michelle Marie Campbell), professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender ...

player at the power forward position who plays for Adana ASKİ * Mary Chapin Carpenter (born 1958), country/folk singer, born and grew up in Princeton * William Ashburner Cattell (1863–1920), civil engineer and railroad company president; born in Princeton * Damien Chazelle (born 1985), film director, producer, and writer. Youngest winner of the

Academy Award for Best Director The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibi ...

* Blair Clark (1917–2000), journalist and political activist who was general manager / vice president of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' ...

and Senator

Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...

's national campaign manager for the 1968 presidential nomination * Patrick Clark (1955–1998), chef * Frances Folsom Cleveland (1864–1947),

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

, died in and is buried in Princeton *

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

(1837–1908), 22nd and 24th President of the United States, retired to, died in, and buried in Princeton * Ruth Cleveland (1891–1904), daughter of Grover and Frances Cleveland born between Cleveland's two terms in office, died at age 12 and is buried at Princeton Cemetery * Chris Conley (born 1980), lead singer of Saves the Day, born and grew up in Princeton * Archibald Crossley (1896–1985), pollster, statistician and pioneer in public opinion research * John Crowley (born 1967), biotechnology executive and entrepreneur and the chairman and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics * Whitney Darrow Jr. (1909–1999), cartoonist at ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' * Jon Drezner, architect and designer * Howard Duffield (1854–1941),

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their ...

minister *

Freeman Dyson Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was an English-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum ...

(born 1923), theoretical physicist and fellow at the

* Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), Congregationalist Church theologian, Princeton University's third president *

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

(1879–1955), physicist, fellow at the

* Maria (Maja) Einstein (1881–1951), German Romanist and the younger sister of Albert Einstein * T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), author * Elmer William Engstrom (1901–1984), President and CEO of

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Co ...

* Daniel Errico, children's book author and children's media content creator who is the creator and executive producer of Hulu's kids TV series '' The Bravest Knight'' * Katherine Ettl (–1993), sculptor best known for her monumental bronzes * Charles Evered (born 1964), playwright, screenwriter and director, resident of Princeton * Henry B. Eyring (born 1933), Second Counselor in the First Presidency of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

and president of Ricks College, born in Princeton * Robert Fagles (1933–2008), professor, poet, and academic, best known for his many translations of ancient Greek and Roman classics, especially his translations of the epic poems of Homer * Mervin Field (1921–2015), public opinion pollster whose career in polling began with a poll of Princeton High School students in a class election * Abner S. Flagg (1851–1923), businessman and politicians, served in the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year ter ...

and as Mayor of Edgerton, Wisconsin *

Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel '' The Sportswriter'' and its sequels, ''Independence Day'', '' The Lay of the Land'' and ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', and t ...

(born 1944), writer, taught at Princeton University, wrote several books set in a fictionalized Haddam, New Jersey, based in part on PrincetonMcGrath, Charles
"A New Jersey State of Mind"
''

'', October 25, 2006. Accessed August 29, 2014. "Mr. Ford, who was born and reared in Mississippi, discovered the Jersey Shore in the late 1970s, when he and his wife were living in Princeton, where he had a teaching job.... "In ''Independence Day,'' which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996, Frank sold real estate — made a bundle, in fact — in the prosperous, leafy town of Haddam, N.J., a fictional composite of Princeton, Hopewell and Pennington." * Colette Fu, photographer, book artist and paper engineer * N. Howell Furman (1892–1965), professor of

analytical chemistry Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...

who helped develop the electrochemical

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly ...

separation process as part of the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

* George Gallup (1901–1984), statistician and creator of the

Gallup poll Gallup, Inc. is an American analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Starting in the 1980s, Gallup transitioned its ...

, lived and is buried in Princeton * George Gallup Jr. (1930–2011), pollster and author *

Kurt Gödel Kurt Friedrich Gödel ( , ; April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered along with Aristotle and Gottlob Frege to be one of the most significant logicians in history, Gödel had an imme ...

(1906–1978), Austrian-American logician, mathematician and philosopher, fellow at the

* Caroline Gordon (1895–1981), novelist, lived in Princeton from 1956 to 1975 *

Michael Graves Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, as well as principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Gro ...

(1934–2015), architect, lived and worked in Princeton * Fred Greenstein (1930–2018),

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

* Ariela Gross (born 1965), historian who is the John B. and Alice R. Sharp Professor of Law and History at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law * Hallett Johnson (1888–1968), career diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Costa Rica * Chris Harford, self-taught singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter * Ethan Hawke (born 1970), actor * Sarah Hay (born 1987), actress and ballet dancer with the

Semperoper The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourt ...

Joseph Hewes Joseph Hewes (July 9, 1730– November 10, 1779) was an American Founding Father, a signer of the Continental Association and U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a native of Princeton, New Jersey, where he was born in 1730. Hewes's parents we ...

(1730–1779), signer of the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...

, born in Princeton *

Charles Hodge Charles Hodge (December 27, 1797 – June 19, 1878) was a Reformed Presbyterian theologian and principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. He was a leading exponent of the Princeton Theology, an orthodox Calvinist theol ...

(1797–1878), theologian and Principal of

* Herbert Huffman (1905–1968), musician and choir director, founder of the American Boychoir School * Harold L. Humes (1926–1992), novelist who was the originator of ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Ph ...

'' literary magazine * Guy Hutchinson (born 1974), author, broadcaster, theme park historian and comedian * Micky James (born 1993), singer, songwriter and musician * Barbara Piasecka Johnson (1937–2013), Polish-born American humanitarian, philanthropist, art connoisseur and collector * Robert Wood Johnson II (1893–1968), Chairman of

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company ...

, and his wife Margaret, lived in Morven * John Katzenbach (born 1950), author of popular fiction * George F. Kennan (1904–2005), diplomat, historian, fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study * Gina Kolata (born 1948), reporter for ''

'' *

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, who is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, Krugman was th ...

(born 1953), Nobel Prize winner, economist, professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University * Matt Lalli (born 1986), professional lacrosse player for the Boston Cannons of

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff ...

* Chang-Rae Lee (born 1965), writer, Princeton University professor * Arthur Lithgow (1915–2004), actor, director, educator, and managing director of Princeton's McCarter Theatre * John Lithgow (born 1945), actor, lived in Princeton in his late teens * Emily Mann (born 1952), artistic director of Princeton's McCarter Theatre * Barbara Majeski (born 1973), television personality and lifestyle expert *

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

(1875–1955), author * Henry Martin (born 1925), cartoonist at ''

'', lived and worked in Princeton * Alpheus T. Mason (1899–1989), legal scholar and biographer *

John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth ...

(born 1931), writer, lives in Princeton * Rachel Lambert Mellon (1910–2014), horticulturalist, gardener, philanthropist and art collector * Lyle and Erik Menendez (born 1968 and born 1970), two brothers convicted of murdering their parents in 1989 * Steve "Buddy" Miller (born 1952), Nashville session musician, grew up in Princeton and attended Princeton High School * E. Spencer Miller (1817–1879), Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School * Jeannette Mirsky (1903–1987), author who was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1947 for her biographical writings on the history of exploration *

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...

(1931–2019), author, Nobel Laureate, Princeton University professor * Paul Muldoon (born 1951), Irish poet * Jeanette Mundt (born 1982), painter, best known for her works in the 2019

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition ...

* John Forbes Nash Jr. (1928–2015), mathematician, Nobel Prize winner, subject of '' A Beautiful Mind,'' Princeton University professor * Charles Neider (1915–2001), author, Twain scholar; resided on Southern Way *

John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cov ...

(1903−1957), Hungarian-American mathematician at

and

Bebe Neuwirth Beatrice "Bebe" Jane Neuwirth ( ; born December 31, 1958) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. On television, she played Dr. Lilith Sternin, Frasier Crane's wife, on both the TV sitcom '' Cheers'' (in a starring role) and its spin-off ' ...

(born 1958), actress, grew up in Princeton *

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

(born 1938), writer, Princeton University professor * John O'Hara (1905–1970), author, lived in and is buried in Princeton * Charles Smith Olden (1799–1876), Governor of New Jersey during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

* A. Dayton Oliphant (1887–1963), Associate Justice of the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging th ...

from 1945 to 1946, and from 1948 to 1957 * Gregory Olsen (born 1945), entrepreneur, engineer and scientist who, in October 2005, became the third private citizen to make a self-funded trip to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), J ...

* J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), theoretical physicist, director of the Institute for Advanced Study * Alicia Ostriker (born 1937), poet and scholar who writes Jewish feminist poetry * Jeremiah P. Ostriker (born 1937), astronomer * Unity Phelan (born 1994 or 1995), ballet dancer who joined the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company ...

in 2013 and was promoted to soloist in 2017 * John Popper (born 1967), lead singer of the band

Blues Traveler Blues Traveler (formerly known as "The Establishment" or "The Black Cat Jam" or "The Establishment Blues Band") is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. They are known for extensive use of segues in live performanc ...

* Andy Potts (born 1976), triathlete who represented the United States in triathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics * Pete Raymond (born 1947), former

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

who competed in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport ev ...

and in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 197 ...

Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the film '' Superman'' (1978) and three sequels. Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey ...

(1952–2004), actor, grew up in Princeton, attended Princeton Day School *

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his ...

(1898–1976), singer, actor, athlete, civil rights activist, born and raised in Princeton *

Arnold Roth :''This is an article about Arnold Roth, the cartoonist. See also Arnie Roth, the musician.'' Arnold Roth (born February 25, 1929) is an American cartoonist and illustrator for advertisements, album covers, books, magazines, and newspapers. Nove ...

(born 1929), cartoonist, longtime Princeton resident * William E. Schluter (1927–2018), politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly and the

* Ralph Schoenstein (1933–2006), writer, lived in Princeton up to his death * John Schneider (born 1980),

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

coach for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

* Bill Schroeder (born 1958),

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

player for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association wi ...

and

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

, Brewers commentator for Fox Sports Wisconsin *

Roger Sessions Roger Huntington Sessions (December 28, 1896March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. He had initially started his career writing in a neoclassical style, but gradually moved further towards more complex harmonies and ...

(1896–1985), composer, Princeton University professor * Tsutomu Shimomura (born 1964), Japanese-American scientist and computer security expert * Andrew Shue (born 1967), actor and professional soccer player, grew up in northern New Jersey with sister, actress

Elisabeth Shue Elisabeth Judson Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films '' The Karate Kid'' (1984), '' Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), ''Cocktail'' (1988), '' Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' ...

, lives in Princeton *

Michael Showalter Michael Showalter (born June 17, 1970) is an American comedian, actor, director, writer, and producer. He first came to recognition as a cast member on MTV's '' The State'', which aired from 1993 to 1995. He and David Wain created the ''Wet Hot ...

(born 1970), comedian, actor, writer, and director, born in Princeton, attended Princeton High School * Barbara Boggs Sigmund (1939–1990), mayor of Princeton *

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secula ...

(born 1946), moral philosopher, bioethicist and Princeton University professor * Shelley Smith (born 1952), actress * Tom Snow (born 1947), musician * Gennady Spirin (born 1948), artist * Betsey Stockton (–1865), educator and missionary, manumitted from slavery and later retired to and died in Princeton * John P. Stockton (1826–1900), U.S. senator from New Jersey, lived in Princeton * Richard Stockton (1730–1781), signer of the

, lived in and is buried in Princeton * Richard Stockton (1764–1828), U.S. senator from New Jersey, lived in Princeton * Robert F. Stockton (1795–1866),

commodore, U.S. Military

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, t ...

, lived in Princeton * Janet Sorg Stoltzfus, (1931–2004), educator, who established the Ta'iz Cooperative School, the first non-religious school in north Yemen. * Robert Stone (born 1958, class of 1976), director and

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

maker * Jon Tenney (born 1961), actor, born and raised in Princeton * Paul Tulane (1801–1887), benefactor and namesake of

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive p ...

Immanuel Velikovsky Immanuel Velikovsky (; rus, Иммануи́л Велико́вский, p=ɪmənʊˈil vʲɪlʲɪˈkofskʲɪj; 17 November 1979) was a Jewish, Russian-American psychoanalyst, writer, and catastrophist. He is the author of several books offerin ...

(1895–1979), controversial theorist and acquaintance of Albert Einstein * Brandon Wagner (born 1995), professional baseball player * Susie Ione Brown Waxwood (1902–2006), clubwoman and

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Sw ...

official in Princeton *

Andrew Wiles Sir Andrew John Wiles (born 11 April 1953) is an English mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, specializing in number theory. He is best known for proving Fermat's Last Theorem, for which he was awa ...

(born 1953), mathematician who proved

Fermat's Last Theorem In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than 2. The cases and have been ...

, Princeton University professor *

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

(1856–1924), 28th President of the United States, 13th president of Princeton University,

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

* John Witherspoon (1723–1794), signer of the

, president of Princeton University *

Edward Witten Edward Witten (born August 26, 1951) is an American mathematical and theoretical physicist. He is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Witten is a researcher in string theory, ...

(born 1951), mathematician and physicist, fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study * Richard L. Wright (born 1943), political leader who held a number of positions at both the state and national level * Sarah Zelenka (born 1987), rower at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

* Vladimir K. Zworykin (1888–1982), Russian-American engineer, inventor and television pioneer

Princeton in popular culture

Film

Princeton was the setting of the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

-winning '' A Beautiful Mind'' about the schizophrenic mathematician John Nash. It was largely filmed in central New Jersey, including some Princeton locations. However, many scenes of "Princeton" were actually filmed at Fordham University's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. The 1994 film '' I.Q.'', featuring

Meg Ryan Meg Ryan (born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra; November 19, 1961) is an American actress. She began her acting career in 1981 when she made her acting debut in the drama film ''Rich and Famous''. She later joined the cast of the CBS soap oper ...

, Tim Robbins, and

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), '' King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

, was also set in Princeton and was filmed in the area. It includes some geographic stretches, including Matthau looking through a telescope from the roof of "Princeton Hospital" to see Ryan and Robbins' characters kissing on the Princeton Battlefield. Historical films which used Princeton as a setting but were not filmed there include ''

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson ...

'', a 1944 biographical film about Woodrow Wilson. In his 1989 independent feature film '' Stage Fright,'' independent filmmaker Brad Mays shot a drama class scene in the Princeton High School auditorium, using PHS students as extras. On October 18, 2013, Mays' feature documentary '' I Grew Up in Princeton'' had its premiere showing at Princeton High School. The film, described in one Princeton newspaper as a "deeply personal 'coming-of-age story' that yields perspective on the role of perception in a town that was split racially, economically and sociologically", is a portrayal of life in the venerable university town during the tumultuous period of the late sixties through the early seventies. Scenes from the beginning of '' Across the Universe'' (2007) were filmed on the Princeton University campus. Parts of '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' were filmed in Princeton. Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf were filming on Princeton University campus for two days during the summer of 2008. Scenes from the 2008 movie '' The Happening'' were filmed in Princeton.

TV and radio

The 1938

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

radio broadcast of '' The War of the Worlds'', is set partly in nearby Grover's Mill, and includes a fictional professor from Princeton University as a main character, but the action never moves directly into Princeton. The TV show ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air con ...

'' was set in Princeton, at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, and establishing shots for the hospital display the Frist Campus Center of

. The actual University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro opened on May 22, 2012, exactly one day after the finale of ''House'' aired. The 1980 television miniseries '' Oppenheimer'' is partly set in Princeton.

Literature

F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary debut, ''

This Side of Paradise ''This Side of Paradise'' is the debut novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1920. It examines the lives and morality of carefree American youth at the dawn of the Jazz Age. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractiv ...

'', is a loosely autobiographical story of his years at Princeton University. Princeton University's Creative Writing program includes several nationally and internationally prominent writers, making the community a hub of contemporary literature. Many of

's novels are set in Haddam, New Jersey, a fictionalized Princeton.

' 2004 novel ''Take Me, Take Me With You'' (written pseudonymously as Lauren Kelly) is set in Princeton. New Jersey author Judy Blume set her novel '' Superfudge'' in Princeton.

Music

All of the members of

, as well as Chris Barron, lead singer of the Spin Doctors, are from Princeton and were high school friends.

Points of interest

Churches

* Nassau Christian Center * Nassau Presbyterian Church * Princeton United Methodist Church * Princeton University Chapel * St Paul's Roman Catholic Church * Stone Hill Church of Princeton * Stony Brook Meeting House and Cemetery * Trinity Church, Princeton * Princeton Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Educational institutions

and Institute Woods *

* Westminster Choir College

Museums

* Morven *

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

Historic sites

* Albert Einstein House, located at 112 Mercer Street, was the home of Albert Einstein from 1936 until his death in 1955. * Drumthwacket, the

official residence An official residence is the residence of a head of state, head of government, governor, religious leader, leaders of international organizations, or other senior figure. It may be the same place where they conduct their work-related functions. ...

of the

governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

, is one of only four official governor's residences in the country that is not located within its state capital. * Jasna Polana * Jugtown Historic District is a cluster of historic buildings around the intersection of Harrison and Nassau Street that dates to colonial times. * King's Highway Historic District * Kingston Mill Historic District * Maybury Hill is the boyhood home of

, who later moved to North Carolina and was a signer of the

for that state. * Mountain Avenue Historic District * Nassau Club * Nassau Hall * Nassau Inn * Princeton Battlefield State Park * Princeton Battle Monument * Princeton Cemetery * Princeton Historic District * Princeton Ice Company *

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome ( ...

* Updike Farmstead * The Washington Oak * Westland Mansion * Witherspoon Street School for Colored Children