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Learn About Illinois
First Inhabitants	Early History	Geography & Landforms	Economy
Capital: Springfield	Entered the Union: 12/3/1818	Population: 12,419,293	Area (square miles) 57,914
State Bird: Cardinal	State Flower: Purple Violet	Nickname: Prairie State	Governor: Rod Blagojevich
Web Links: State Home Page	Home Page for Students	Members of Congress

Places to Visit in Illinois: (Click the links to learn more.)

Art Institute of Chicago - Chicago
The Art Institute, founded in 1893, houses both a museum and a school. The museum contains more than 300,00 works including such celebrated pieces as Grant Woods’s American Gothic, Edward Hopper’s Night Hawks and 33 paintings by Claude Monet.

Dickson Mounds - between Lewistown and Havana
This on-site archeological museum allows visitors to explore the world of the American Indian through hands-on activities, interpretive exhibits, and a variety of special events. The museum is a National Historic Site and a branch of the Illinois State Museum.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum - Springfield
Opened in 2003, this state-of-the-art museum presents the life of Abraham Lincoln through interactive technology, hands-on exhibits, and the world’s largest collection of Lincoln memorabilia. The website provides a virtual tour of the museum.

Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum - Chicago
Located along the shore of Lake Michigan, Adler was the first planetarium to be established in America. The museum collection houses more than 2,000 historic navigational, astronomical, and mathematical instruments. Also included are exhibits on the solar system, the Milky Way, the history of astronomical discovery and how astronomy has affected different cultures.

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Famous Citizens:

Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury (1920 - ) the author of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and the Illustrated Man, was born in Waukegan, Illinois. Bradbury has published more than 500 works of science fiction and fantasy including short stories, plays, novels, screenplays, television scripts and verse. In 2000 he was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) was born in Salem, Illinois. He was a U.S. congressman, three-time democratic presidential nominee, secretary of state, and a major force in American politics for three decades. In 1925 he served as a prosecution lawyer in the famous Scopes Trial, a high profile Tennessee case involving the teaching of evolution in a public school.

Walt Disney
Walt Disney (1901-1966) the creator of Mickey Mouse and founder of the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Theme Parks was born in Chicago, Illinois. One of the world’s most creative pioneers and innovators in graphic arts, Disney received more than 950 honors and citations from every nation in the world, including 48 Academy Awards and seven Emmys.

Robert Millikan
Robert Millikan (1868-1953) was born in Morrison, Illinois. As a scientist, Millikan made numerous momentous discoveries, chiefly in the fields of electricity, optics, and molecular physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for his work in demonstrating the existence of electrons.

Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) was born in Galesburg, Illinois. Sandburg was a poet and biographer who won Pulitzer Prizes for his biography Abraham Lincoln: The War Years and for his Completed Poems in 1951. He was also a novelist, journalist, children’s author, and folksong anthologist.

James Dewey Watson
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Watson attended the University of Chicago and received a degree in Zoology. He became interested in genetics and attended Indiana University where he received the PhD. By the 1950s, he began to do research into the structure of DNA. Working with Francis Crick, they proposed the double-helix configuration of DNA. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962 along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins.