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Main Page From Our History Jump to: navigation, search A growing online history of the University of Edinburgh and its people
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Timeline featuring a selection of key dates in the University history
1557Will of Bishop Robert Reid. 1580Bequest of Clement Litill's Library. 1582 Charter from James VI. 1583Opening of the University 1620Separation of posts of Principal and Professor of Divinity. 1626William Drummond of Hawthornden donates books to Library. 1639Bartilmo Somerville endows Chair of Divinity (first major private benefactor) 1665Rectorship transferred to Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1670Creation of Edinburgh Botanic Garden 1690Purge of Episcopalian and Jacobite Staff. 1690Gilbert Rule appointed Principal. 1703William Carstares appointed Principal. 1704Seizure of College Records by Town Council. 1707Foundation of Faculty of Law. 1708End of Regenting System. 1708Foundation of Faculty of Arts. 1713Foundation of Chair of Chemistry. 1726Foundation of Faculty of Medicine. 1745Classes suspended as the Jacobites march on city. 1745David Hume turned down for Chair of Moral Philosophy. 1749First American Graduate (John Moultrie). 1760Foundation of Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. 1760Foundation of Trustees' Drawing Academy (forerunner of Edinburgh College of Art) 1762William Robertson appointed Principal. 1787Theft of College Mace, possibly by Deacon Brodie 1789Laying of Foundation Stone of Old College. 1826Visitation of the University by Royal Commission 1843Resignation of Thomas Chalmers, Professor of Divinity. 1846Foundation of New College. 1847Free Churchman Charles MacDouall refused as Professor of Hebrew on religious grounds. 1847James Young Simpson discovers anaesthetic use of chloroform in childbirth. 1848Free Church of Scotland Normal and Sessional School opens (forerunner of Moray House). 1858Universities (Scotland) Act. 1859Layman Sir David Brewster appointed Principal. 1859First Meeting of General Council. 1859First Election of Rector by Student Body (Gladstone). 1859First Meeting of University Court. 1859Appointment of Curators of Patronage. 1859Building of Reid Concert Hall. 1868Foundation of Edinburgh Ladies Education Association. 1868Foundation of Baxter Chair of Engineering. 1868Lyon Playfair elected first University MP. 1878David Laing bequests his manuscript collection to the University Library. 1884Tercentenary Festival. 1884Opening of New Medical School. 1884First Students' Representative Council elected. 1887Foundation of University Hall. 1887First Publication of the 'Student'. 1889Opening of University Union (for men) 1893First female graduates. 1893Foundation of Faculty of Science. 1894Foundation of Faculty of Music. 1897Opening of McEwan Hall. 1897Opening of Masson Hall (women's hall of residence) 1901Andrew Carnegie donates 10,000,000 dollars to the Universities of Scotland. 1901Foundation of Sir William Fraser Chair of Scottish History and Palaeography. 1914-1918 Nearly 8,000 Edinburgh students or graduates serve in First World War. 1914Lord Kitchener elected Rector. 1915First Female Senior President of Students' Representative Council (Agnes Cunningham). 1916Women finally admitted to Faculty of Medicine. 1920Laying of foundation stone at Science Campus at King's Buildings. 1924Student Eric Liddell wins 400 metres at Paris Olympics. 1924Foundation of University of Edinburgh Graduates' Association. 1924Percentage of women students reaches peace time peak of 31%. 1932Merger of United Free Church College with Faculty of Divinity. 1932First 'non-political' rectorial election. 1932First Charities Week. 1936Refugee Max Born appointed to Chair of Natural Philosophy. 1936Sir Herbert Grierson elected Rector. 1941Foundation of Polish School of Medicine. 1948Edinburgh Dental School merges with Faculty of Medicine. 1948Alastair Sim elected first celebrity Rector. 1951Royal (Dick) Veterinary College integrated into University. 1951Sir Alexander Fleming elected Rector. 1958Appointment of first woman Professor (Elizabeth Wiskemann). 1963Foundation of Faculty of Social Sciences. 1966Construction of James Clerk Maxwell Building. 1967Foundation of Chair of Computer Science. 1968Malcolm Muggeridge resigns as Rector. 1972Gordon Brown elected Rector. 1973Foundation of Edinburgh University Students' Association. 1980Brenda Moon appointed first woman University Librarian. 1988Muriel Gray elected first woman Rector. 1996Cloning of Dolly the Sheep at Roslin Institute. 1998Merger with Moray House Institute of Education. 2002Reconstitution of Faculties into Colleges. 2002Opening of new Medical School at Little France. 2002School of Informatics badly damaged by fire. 2011Merger with Edinburgh College of Art. 2011Opening of Easter Bush Veterinary Campus. 2013Peter Higgs awarded Nobel Prize in Physics. Book stamp and seal of Clement Litill Foundation Charter of James VI to Edinburgh Town Council (1582) Signatories to the 'Sponsio' in the First Laureation Album Class card of Stephen Pellet, for classes in Botany by John Hope Class card issued to Charles Darwin (1820s) Portrait photograph of Sir David Brewster Cricket team (1881) Portrait photograph of Sir Roderick Impey Murchison who endowed the Chair of Geology Clerk Ranken in a Chemistry laboratory Staff and students at the Polish School of Medicine (1940s) Institute of Animal Genetics, King's Buildings campus (1950s) George Square (1960s) Retrieved from "http://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php?title=Main_Pageoldid=6201" Navigation menu Personal tools Log in Namespaces PageDiscussionVariants Views ViewView sourceHistoryActions Navigation Main page Recent changes Random page Tools What links here Related changes Special pages Printable version Permanent link Page information This page was last modified on 17 February 2015, at 12:44. 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