[15] Two years later, Charles Benedict Calvert (1808–1864), a future U.S. Representative (Congressman) and descendant of the first Lord Baltimore, purchased 420 acres (1.7 km2) of the Riversdale Mansion estate nearby today's College Park, Maryland.

[1] During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers under Brigadier General Bradley Tyler Johnson moved past the college on July 12, 1864, as part of Jubal Early's raid on Washington, D.C.[18] By the end of the war, financial problems forced the administrators to sell off 200 acres (81 ha) of land, and the continuing decline in enrollment sent the Maryland Agricultural College into bankruptcy.

[1] On November 29, 1912, a fire destroyed student housing, school records, and most of the academic buildings, leaving only Morrill Hall untouched.

[20] In the same year, the first female students, Elizabeth Gambrill Hook and Charlotte Ann Vaux, enrolled at the school.

[22][23] In the same year, the graduate school on the College Park campus awarded its first Ph.D. degrees and the university's enrollment reached 500 students.

[28] In 1994, the National Archives at College Park completed construction and opened on a parcel of land adjoining the campus donated by the University of Maryland, after lobbying by President William Kirwan and congressional leaders to foster academic collaboration between the institutions.

As a result of the data breaches, the university offered free credit protection for five years to the students and faculty affected.

[41][42][43] Activism continued in the next academic year with the placement of small flags in the lawn on McKeldin Mall, representing the more than 150,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza.

[57] The university's first Leed Gold building, Knight Hall, opened in April 2010 as the new home for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

[80] For the fourth consecutive year in 2015, the university was ranked 1st in the U.S. for the number of Boren Scholarship recipients – with nine students receiving awards for intensive international language study.

In 2006, John C. Mather was awarded the prize in physics alongside George Smoot for their work in the discovery of blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Professor of physics Michael Fisher won the Wolf Prize in 1980 (together with Kenneth G. Wilson and Leo Kadanoff) and the IUPAP Boltzmann Medal in 1983.

[91] On October 14, 2004, the university added 150 acres (61 ha) in an attempt to create the largest research park inside the Washington, D.C. Capital Beltway, formerly known as "M Square" and now known as the "Discovery District.

The Space Systems Laboratory researches human-robotic interaction for astronautics applications and includes the only neutral buoyancy facility at a university.

[97] The Joint Global Change Research Institute, which studies human and earth systems, was formed in 2001 by the University of Maryland and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

[99] The university hosts "living-learning" programs (LLPs) that allow students with similar academic interests to live in the same residential community take specialized courses and perform research in those areas of expertise.

[102] Several LLPs exist under the university's Honors College, with focuses in topics including cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, and life sciences.

[103] College Park Scholars is another LLP umbrella that includes programs in the arts, public health, and legal thought, among others.

The newspaper is published daily during the spring and fall semesters, with a print circulation of 17,000 and annual advertising revenues of over $1 million.

[citation needed]Approximately 16% of men and women in Maryland's undergraduate student body were involved in fraternities and sororities in 2017.

[133][134] The Terrapins nickname (often shortened to "Terps") was coined by former university president, football coach, and athletic director H. C. "Curly" Byrd in 1932.

[136] Since the early 20th century, the school athletic colors have been some combination of those on the Maryland state flag: red, white, black, and gold.

[140] Beginning in 1989, alumnus Gary Williams revived the program, which was struggling in the wake of Len Bias's death and NCAA rules infractions.

The men's soccer team has won four NCAA Division I College Cup national championships, most recently in 2018.

[147] Under the guidance of head coach Sasho Cirovski, the soccer team has reached nine Final Fours and won three College Cups since 1997.

The attendance record at Ludwig Field was set in 2015 when 8,449 fans saw Maryland win over top-ranked UCLA in extra time.

[150] The Mighty Sound of Maryland marching band attends all home football games and provides pre-game performances.

[157] Prominent alumni in business include Ed Snider, former chairman of Comcast Spectacor and former owner of the Philadelphia Flyers; journalist Jim Walton, former president and CEO of CNN; Kevin Plank, founder and executive chairman of the athletic apparel company Under Armour; Chris Kubasik, former president of Lockheed Martin; and Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

Journalist Carl Bernstein, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for his coverage of the Watergate scandal, attended the university but did not graduate.

Brendan Iribe, a co-founder of Oculus VR, donated $31 million to the university in 2014 towards a new computer science building and scholarships.