Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (University of Manchester) - History

History

The University of Manchester has a long and distinguished record of achievement in science and engineering disciplines, and a history of breaking new ground. Rutherford began his work on splitting the atom at the University (and later received the Nobel Prize in 1908 for his work on radioactivity). The world's first stored-program computer, the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (nicknamed 'The Baby') came into being at the University, as did its successor, Manchester Mark 1.

The University of Manchester was the birthplace of Chemical Engineering.

The world's first steerable radio telescope at Jodrell Bank was built at the University by Bernard Lovell.

Since 1906, when former student Joseph Thompson won the Nobel Prize in Physics, the faculty and its antecedent institutions have produced more than 11 Nobel laureates in Physics out of the 25 awarded to staff or students of the University of Manchester as a whole. Most recently, Manchester physicists Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work with graphene.

The University's history is closely linked to Manchester's emergence as the world's first industrial city. Manchester businessmen and industrialists established the Mechanics' Institute to ensure that their workers could learn the basic principles of science. Similarly, John Owens, a Manchester textile merchant, left a bequest of £96,942 in 1851 for the purpose of founding a college for the education of males on non-sectarian lines. Owens College was established and granted a royal charter in 1880 to become England's first civic university, The Victoria University of Manchester.