May 23 Illinois History Minute

It’s May 23rd, and the University of Illinois’ Morrow Plots were added to the National Register of Historic Places on this day in 1968. The experimental agricultural field was established in 1876, making it the second-oldest experimental field in the world. Research using the Morrow Plots showed the usefulness of crop rotation in maintaining soil quality.
 
John Bardeen is the only person to win a Nobel Prize in Physics twice --- and the second time was as a University of Illinois researcher. Bardeen, who was born on this day in 1908, was a co-winner of the prize in 1972 for his work on the BCS theory of conventional superconductivity. His earlier Nobel came in 1956 for his work on developing the transistor at Bell Labs.