The University Of Glasgow history

William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), the celebrated physicist, was professor of natural philosophy at the university in 1846–99.

As a close friend of Charles Darwin and one well acquainted with the latter’s early work, Hooker, along with the geologist Sir Charles Lyell, presided at the historic meeting of the Linnean Society (London) in July 1858.

From 1460, lands granted by Lord Hamilton on High Street formed the site of the university until its removal to the west end of Glasgow in 1870/71.

1881: Eminent Glasgow Professor of Natural Philosophy, William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, creates one of the first houses in the world to be fully lit by electricity on the University campus.

1892: Queen Margaret College, the only college for the higher education of women in Scotland, achieves its aim of amalgamation with the University.

1896: The world’s first hospital x-ray department is opened at Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary by graduate John McIntyre.

1914: John Logie Baird, the pioneer of television, begins his studies at the University.

The Beatrix Whistler and James McNeill Whistler Scholarships originate with an important collection of works by Whistler gifted by Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip to the University in 1935.

1958: The world’s first ultrasound images of a foetus are published by Glasgow Professor Ian Donald.

To continue this work in his will, he founded Anderson's College, which was associated with the university before merging with other institutions to become the University of Strathclyde in 1964.

In 1973, Delphine Parrott became its first female professor, as Gardiner Professor of Immunology.

2003: Glasgow graduate Emma Richards becomes the first British woman to sail solo around the world.

2010: Glasgow becomes the first university in the UK to openly offer Intellectual Property (IP) to businesses for free through our Easy Access IP initiative.

In October 2014, the university court voted for the university to become the first academic institution in Europe to divest from the fossil fuel industry.

2015: Glasgow is in the top 100 in both the QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings.