1
The No. 1 public university in Texas.
2
How many fingers you hold up when saying “Hook ’em!” (Also, how many alumnae have become first ladies of the United States.)
3
Alumni who have won the Masters Tournament (most of any university): Ben Crenshaw (left), Scottie Scheffler (center) and Jordan Spieth (right), with five jackets combined, Greensleeves, if you will. (Also, faculty members who have won the Pulitzer Prize — William Goetzmann, David Oshinsky and Jacqueline Jones — along with nearly 40 alumni.)
4
Members of the Miró Quartet, UT’s world-renowned string quartet-in-residence at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music since 2003. The fantastic four include (from left) Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer on violin, Joshua Gindele on cello and John Largess on viola.
5
Acres in UT Austin’s Marine Science Institute’s boat basin. The institute sits on 72 acres in Port Aransas, and it manages the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, which totals 186,189 acres.
6
Number of buildings in the Six-Pack. Though we think of the buildings as a set because of their nickname, in fact they appeared over a 26-year period. The oldest, built in 1941 at the southwest corner of the South Mall (upper-right in this south-facing photo), was originally the Music Building but has been called Rainey Hall since 1995. Next came Benedict (southeast), Mezes (east middle) and Batts (northeast) all in 1951. Then came Parlin in 1955 on the northwest and finally Calhoun in 1967 connecting the west side.
7
Article of the Texas Constitution establishing UT. (Also, UT’s rank among public universities in the United States.)
8
Nobel laureates (faculty and alumni).
Faculty: Hermann Muller (top right), Physiology or Medicine – 1946; Ilya Prigogine, Chemistry – 1977; Steven Weinberg (bottom right), Physics – 1979; John Goodenough (third from left), Chemistry – 2019.
Alumni: E. Donnall Thomas, M.A. 1943, Physiology or Medicine – 1990; J.M. Coetzee (at left), Ph.D. 1969, Literature – 2003; Michael W. Young, B.A. 1971, Physiology or Medicine – 2017; James Allison (second from left), Ph.D. 1973, Physiology or Medicine – 2018.
9
Feet across (9.5) Big Bertha II measures.
10
Meters across the mirror is on the biggest telescope at McDonald Observatory, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Finished in 1997, the telescope’s mirror looks like a honeycomb and is made up of 91 hexagonal mirrors that form a reflecting surface measuring 11 by 10 meters. The segments must be aligned exactly to form a perfect reflecting surface for good observations. HET is still the third-largest optical telescope in the world.
11
$11 billion contributed to the Texas economy by UT Austin alumni.
12
Number of faculty members who have won the MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the genius grant: Karen Uhlenbeck, Mathematics – 1983; David Stuart, Mayanist, 1984 (18 years old, youngest-ever recipient); Thomas Palaima, Classics – 1985; Philip Uri Treisman, Mathematics – 1992; Nora England, Linguistics – 1993 (center of photo); Nancy Moran, Integrative Biology – 1997; David Hillis, Integrative Biology – 1999; Jacqueline Jones, History – 1999; Livia Schiavinato Eberlin, Chemistry – 2018 (right in photo); Monica Muñoz Martinez, History – 2021; Moriba Jah, Astrodynamics – 2022 (left in photo); Jason McLellan, Biology – 2025.
13
The only infamous number in our list, appropriately, is 13, which was the first number the Aggies mutilated UT’s first longhorn mascot with after winning the 1916 game 13-0. But the persistent story that this is how the first Bevo got his name IS FALSE, as Texas Ex and UT historian Jim Nicar explains in this thorough article.
14
Floors in UT’s largest dormitory, Jester West Hall. (Also, number of entrepreneurship centers UT has across campus.)
15
Bevos. Above, Bevo XV.
16
National championships for Longhorn Men’s Swimming and Diving, the most of any UT team. Seen here is Will Modglin swimming breaststroke. (Also, the number of alumni who have served as U.S. Cabinet secretaries.)
Check back for how the number in the December date relates to The University of Texas at Austin.
