The University of Chicago is composed of an undergraduate college and five graduate research divisions, which contain all of the university's graduate programs and interdisciplinary committees. It has eight professional schools: the Law School; the Booth School of Business; the Pritzker School of Medicine; the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice; the Harris School of Public Policy; the Divinity School; the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies; and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. The university has additional campuses and centers in London, Paris, Beijing, Delhi, and Hong Kong, as well as in downtown Chicago.

University of Chicago scholars have played a major role in the development of many academic disciplines, including economics, law, literary criticism, mathematics, physics, religion, sociology, and political science, establishing the Chicago schools in various fields.[14][15][16][17][18] Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory produced the world's first human-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction in Chicago Pile-1 beneath the viewing stands of the university's Stagg Field.[19] Advances in chemistry led to the "radiocarbon revolution" in the carbon-14 dating of ancient life and objects.[20] The university research efforts include administration of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, as well as the Marine Biological Laboratory. The university is also home to the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in the United States.[21]