Harvey Mudd College opened in September of 1957, less than a month before Sputnik I launched the Space Age. Forty-eight students and a faculty of seven courageous professors who shared the dream of starting a technical college that would emphasize the humanistic aspects of technology were on hand when the school opened its doors. Nuclear physicist Joseph B. Platt served the fledgling institution as its first president, and new courses and a new curriculum were formulated under a grant from the Carnegie Corp.

The founding faculty of Harvey Mudd College were:

• Graydon Bell, assistant professor of physics
• J. Arthur Campbell, professor of chemistry
• William Davenport, professor of humanities
• Robert James, professor of mathematics
• Duane Roller, professor of physics
• Roy A. Whiteker, assistant professor of chemistry
• George Wickes, assistant professor of humanities

Why would a distinguished college professor leave the security of an established university to join the faculty of a new college? Professor Bell explains, "Harvey Mudd College was new and the president said that I would be making all the decisions about what would be taught and how it would be taught. That appealed to me."