Imperial College London
Imperial College London
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Imperial College London

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Imperial College London

The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, known by its common trade names Imperial College London and Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned South Kensington as a cultural district with museums, colleges, and the Royal Albert Hall. In 1907, these colleges – the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines, and the City and Guilds of London Institute – merged to form Imperial College London.

In 1988, Imperial merged with St Mary's Hospital Medical School and then with Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School to form the Imperial College School of Medicine. The Imperial Business School was established in 2003 and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. Formerly a constituent college of the University of London, Imperial became an independent university in 2007.

Imperial is organised into four faculties: Engineering, Medicine, Natural Sciences, and Business. The university encourages innovation and enterprise across all its faculties by integrating business courses into science degrees and providing business students with a scientific education. The main campus is located in South Kensington, with an additional campus in White City. The Faculty of Medicine also operates five teaching hospitals across London and is a founding institution of the Francis Crick Institute.

Its graduates and lecturers include 14 Nobel Prize winners, three Fields Medal winners, 74 Fellows of the Royal Society and 84 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

The earliest college that led to the formation of Imperial was the Royal College of Chemistry, founded in 1845, with the support of Prince Albert and parliament. This was merged in 1853 into what became known as the Royal School of Mines. The medical school has roots in many different schools across London, the oldest of which being Charing Cross Hospital Medical School which can be traced back to 1823, followed by teaching starting at Westminster Hospital in 1834, and St Mary's Hospital in 1851.

In 1851, the Great Exhibition was organised as an exhibition of culture and industry by Henry Cole and by Prince Albert, husband of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria. An enormously popular and financial success, proceeds from the Great Exhibition were designated to develop an area for cultural and scientific advancement in South Kensington. Within the next six years the Victoria and Albert Museum and Science Museum had opened, joined by new facilities in 1871 for the Royal College of Chemistry, and in 1881 the opening of the Royal School of Mines and Natural History Museum.

In 1881, the Normal School of Science was established in South Kensington under the leadership of Thomas Huxley, taking over responsibility for the teaching of the natural sciences and agriculture from the Royal School of Mines. The school was renamed the Royal College of Science by royal consent in 1890. The Central Institution of the City and Guilds of London Institute was opened as a technical education school on Exhibition Road by the Prince of Wales in 1884, with courses beginning in 1885.

At the start of the 20th century, there was a concern that Great Britain was falling behind Germany in scientific and technical education. A departmental committee was set up at the Board of Education in 1904, to look into the future of the Royal College of Science. A report released in 1906 called for the establishment of an institution unifying the Royal College of Science and the Royal School of Mines, as well as – if an agreement could be reached with the City and Guilds of London Institute – its Central Technical College.

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