University of Edinburgh

Coordinates: 55°57′N 3°11′W / 55.950°N 3.183°W / 55.950; -3.183
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from University of edinburgh)

University of Edinburgh
Latin: Universitas Academica Edinburgensis
Former names
Tounis College
King James' College
TypePublic research university
Ancient university
Established1583; 441 years ago (1583)[1]
Academic affiliation
Endowment£559.8 million (2023)[2]
Budget£1.341 billion (2022/23)[2]
ChancellorAnne, Princess Royal
RectorSimon Fanshawe
PrincipalSir Peter Mathieson
Academic staff
4,952 FTE (2022)[3]
Administrative staff
6,215 FTE (2022)[3]
Students41,250 (2021/22)[4][a]
Undergraduates26,000 (2021/22)[4]
Postgraduates15,245 (2021/22)[4]
Location,
Scotland, UK

55°57′N 3°11′W / 55.950°N 3.183°W / 55.950; -3.183
CampusUrban, suburban
ColoursRed Blue[6]
Websitewww.ed.ac.uk Edit this at Wikidata
Interior dome of the McEwan Hall after restoration in 2017

The University of Edinburgh (Scots: University o Edinburgh, Scottish Gaelic: Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as Edin. in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter of King James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's four ancient universities and the sixth-oldest university in continuous operation in the English-speaking world.[1] The university played an important role in Edinburgh becoming a chief intellectual centre during the Scottish Enlightenment and contributed to the city being nicknamed the "Athens of the North".[7][8]

The three main global university rankings (QS, THE, and ARWU) all place Edinburgh within their respective top 40.[9][10][11] It is a member of several associations of research-intensive universities, including the Coimbra Group, League of European Research Universities, Russell Group, Una Europa, and Universitas 21.[12] In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2023, it had a total income of £1.341 billion, of which £339.5 million was from research grants and contracts. It has the third-largest endowment in the UK, behind only Cambridge and Oxford.[2] The university occupies five main campuses in the city of Edinburgh, which include many buildings of historical and architectural significance such as those in the Old Town.[13]

Edinburgh is the seventh-largest university in the UK by enrolment[4] and receives over 75,000 undergraduate applications per year, making it the second-most popular university in the UK by volume of applications.[14] Edinburgh had the seventh-highest average UCAS points amongst British universities for new entrants in 2021.[15] The university continues to have links to the royal family, having had Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh as its chancellor from 1953 to 2010 and Anne, Princess Royal since March 2011.[16]

Alumni of the university include inventor Alexander Graham Bell, naturalist Charles Darwin, philosopher David Hume, physicist James Clerk Maxwell, and writers such as Sir J. M. Barrie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J. K. Rowling,[17] Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson.[18][19] The university counts several heads of state and government amongst its graduates, including three British prime ministers. Three Supreme Court justices of the UK were educated at Edinburgh. As of January 2023, 19 Nobel Prize laureates, four Pulitzer Prize winners, three Turing Award winners, and an Abel Prize laureate and Fields Medalist have been affiliated with Edinburgh as alumni or academic staff.[20] Edinburgh alumni have won a total of ten Olympic gold medals.[b]

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

Robert Rollock, Regent (1583–1586) and first principal (1586–1599) of the University of Edinburgh

In 1557, Bishop Robert Reid of St Magnus Cathedral on Orkney made a will containing an endowment of 8,000 merks to build a college in Edinburgh.[21] Unusually for his time, Reid's vision included the teaching of rhetoric and poetry, alongside more traditional subjects such as philosophy.[21] However, the bequest was delayed by more than 25 years due to the religious revolution that led to the Reformation Parliament of 1560.[21] The plans were revived in the late 1570s through efforts by the Edinburgh Town Council, first minister of Edinburgh James Lawson, and Lord Provost William Little.[1] When Reid's descendants were unwilling to pay out the sum, the town council petitioned King James VI and his Privy Council. The King brokered a monetary compromise and granted a royal charter on 14 April 1582, empowering the town council to create a college of higher education.[21][22][23] A college established by secular authorities was unprecedented in newly Presbyterian Scotland, as all previous Scottish universities had been founded through papal bulls.[24]

Main buildings of King James' College in 1647, lying in a double courtyard on the lower left
Frontispiece to earliest laureation (graduation) register (1587)

Named Tounis College (Town's College), the university opened its doors to students on 14 October 1583, with an attendance of 80–90.[1] At the time, the college mainly covered liberal arts and divinity.[25][26] Instruction began under the charge of a graduate from the University of St Andrews, theologian Robert Rollock, who first served as Regent, and from 1586 as principal of the college.[27] Initially Rollock was the sole instructor for first-year students, and he was expected to tutor the 1583 intake for all four years of their degree in every subject. The first cohort finished their studies in 1587, and 47 students graduated (or 'laureated') with an M.A. degree.[27] When King James VI visited Scotland in 1617, he held a disputation with the college's professors, after which he decreed that it should henceforth be called the "Colledge [sic] of King James".[28][29] The university was known as both Tounis College and King James' College until it gradually assumed the name of the University of Edinburgh during the 17th century.[25][30]

After the deposition of King James II and VII during the Glorious Revolution in 1688, the Parliament of Scotland passed legislation designed to root out Jacobite sympathisers amongst university staff.[31] In Edinburgh, this led to the dismissal of Principal Alexander Monro and several professors and regents after a government visitation in 1690. The university was subsequently led by Principal Gilbert Rule, one of the inquisitors on the visitation committee.[31]

18th and 19th century[edit]

"You are now in a place where the best courses upon earth are within your reach... Such an opportunity you will never again have. I would therefore strongly press on you to fix no other limit to your stay in Edinborough than your having got thro this whole course. The omission of any one part of it will be an affliction & loss to you as long as you live."

Thomas Jefferson, writing to his son-in-law Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr. in 1786.[32]

The late 17th and early 18th centuries were marked by a power struggle between the university and town council, which had ultimate authority over staff appointments, curricula, and examinations.[33] After a series of challenges by the university, the conflict culminated in the council seizing the college records in 1704.[33] Relations were only gradually repaired over the next 150 years and suffered repeated setbacks.

The university expanded by founding a Faculty of Law in 1707, a Faculty of Arts in 1708, and a Faculty of Medicine in 1726.[34] In 1762, Reverend Hugh Blair was appointed by King George III as the first Regius Professor of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres.[35] This formalised literature as a subject and marks the foundation of the English Literature department, making Edinburgh the oldest centre of literary education in Britain.[36]

During the 18th century, the university was at the centre of the Scottish Enlightenment.[37] The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment fell on especially fertile ground in Edinburgh because of the university's democratic and secular origin; its organization as a single entity instead of loosely connected colleges, which encouraged academic exchange; its adoption of the more flexible Dutch model of professorship, rather than having student cohorts taught by a single regent; and the lack of land endowments as its source of income, which meant its faculty operated in a more competitive environment.[38] Between 1750 and 1800, this system produced and attracted key Enlightenment figures such as chemist Joseph Black, economist Adam Smith, historian William Robertson, philosophers David Hume and Dugald Stewart, physician William Cullen, and early sociologist Adam Ferguson, many of which taught concurrently.[38] By the time the Royal Society of Edinburgh was founded in 1783, the university was regarded as one of the world's preeminent scientific institutions,[39] and Voltaire called Edinburgh a "hotbed of genius" as a result.[40] Benjamin Franklin believed that the university possessed "a set of as truly great men, Professors of the Several Branches of Knowledge, as have ever appeared in any Age or Country".[41] Thomas Jefferson felt that as far as science was concerned, "no place in the world can pretend to a competition with Edinburgh".[42]

The east facade of Old College facing onto South Bridge, as built in 1827. A dome similar to Adam's original design was added in 1887 by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson.
piece of parchment of charter of novodamus from King James VI of Scotland in 1582
A Charter of Novodamus from King James VI of Scotland in 1582, to establish a college

In 1785, Henry Dundas introduced the South Bridge Act in the House of Commons; one of the bill's goals was to use South Bridge as a location for the university, which had existed in a hotchpotch of buildings since its establishment. The site was used to construct Old College, the university's first custom-built building, by architect William Henry Playfair to plans by Robert Adam.[43] During the 18th century, the university developed a particular forte in teaching anatomy and the developing science of surgery, and it was considered one of the best medical schools in the English-speaking world.[44] Bodies to be used for dissection were brought to the university's Anatomy Theatre through a secret tunnel from a nearby house (today's College Wynd student accommodation), which was also used by murderers Burke and Hare to deliver the corpses of their victims during the 1820s.[45][46]

The Edinburgh snowball riots of 1838 also known as the 'Wars of the Quadrangle' occurred when University of Edinburgh students engaged in what started as a snowball fight in a "a spirit of harmless amusement" before becoming a two-day 'battle' at Old College with local Edinburgh residents on South Bridge which led to the Lord Provost calling from the 79th regiment to be called from Edinburgh Castle to quell the disturbance. This was later immortalised in a 92-page humorous account written by the students entitled The University Snowdrop and then later, in 1853, in a landscape by English artist, Samuel Bough.[47] [48][49]

Snowballing Outside Edinburgh University (1853) - Samuel Bough
Snowballing Outside Edinburgh University (1853) - Samuel Bough

After 275 years of governance by the town council, the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858 gave the university full authority over its own affairs.[33] The act established governing bodies including a university court and a general council, and redefined the roles of key officials like the chancellor, rector, and principal.[50]

Plaque commemorating the Edinburgh Seven at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Seven were the first group of matriculated undergraduate female students at any British university.[51] Led by Sophia Jex-Blake, they began studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1869. Although the university blocked them from graduating and qualifying as doctors, their campaign gained national attention and won them many supporters, including Charles Darwin.[52] Their efforts put the rights of women to higher education on the national political agenda, which eventually resulted in legislation allowing women to study at all Scottish universities in 1889. The university admitted women to graduate in medicine in 1893.[53][54] In 2015, the Edinburgh Seven were commemorated with a plaque at the university,[55] and in 2019 they were posthumously awarded with medical degrees.[56]

Buildings of the Old Medical School at Teviot Place, photographed in the late 19th century
Exterior of the McEwan Hall

Towards the end of the 19th century, Old College was becoming overcrowded. After a bequest from Sir David Baxter, the university started planning new buildings in earnest. Sir Robert Rowand Anderson won the public architectural competition and was commissioned to design new premises for the Medical School in 1877.[57] Initially, the design incorporated a campanile and a hall for examination and graduation, but this was seen as too ambitious. The new Medical School opened in 1884, but the building was not completed until 1888.[58] After funds were donated by politician and brewer William McEwan in 1894, a separate graduation building was constructed after all, also designed by Anderson.[59] The resulting McEwan Hall on Bristo Square was presented to the university in 1897.[60]

Teviot Row House, drawn by architect Sydney Mitchell in 1888

The Students' Representative Council (SRC) was founded in 1884 by student Robert Fitzroy Bell.[61][62] In 1889, the SRC voted to establish Edinburgh University Union (EUU), to be housed in Teviot Row House on Bristo Square.[63] Edinburgh University Sports Union (EUSU) was founded in 1866, and Edinburgh University Women's Union (renamed the Chambers Street Union in 1964) in October 1905.[64] The SRC, EUU and Chambers Street Union merged to form Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) on 1 July 1973.[65][66]

20th century[edit]

During World War I, the Science and Medicine buildings had suffered from a lack of repairs or upgrades, which was exacerbated by an influx of students after the end of the war.[67] In 1919, the university bought the land of West Mains Farm in the south of the city for the development of a new satellite campus specialising in the sciences.[68] On 6 July 1920, King George V laid the foundation of the first new building (now called the Joseph Black Building), housing the Department of Chemistry.[67] The campus was named King's Buildings in honour of George V.

Facade of New College facing onto The Mound in 1910

New College on The Mound was originally opened in 1846 as a Free Church of Scotland college, later of the United Free Church of Scotland.[69] Since the 1930s it has been the home of the School of Divinity. Prior to the 1929 reunion of the Church of Scotland, candidates for the ministry in the United Free Church studied at New College, whilst candidates for the Church of Scotland studied in the university's Faculty of Divinity.[70] In 1935 the two institutions merged, with all operations moved to the New College site in Old Town.[71] This freed up Old College for Edinburgh Law School.[72]

Plaque honouring the Polish School of Medicine at the old Medical School

The Polish School of Medicine was established in 1941 as a wartime academic initiative. While it was originally intended for students and doctors in the Polish Armed Forces in the West, civilians were also allowed to take the courses, which were taught in Polish and awarded Polish medical degrees.[73] When the school was closed in 1949, 336 students had matriculated, of which 227 students graduated with the equivalent of an MBChB and a total of 19 doctors obtained a doctorate or MD.[74] A bronze plaque commemorating the Polish School of Medicine is located in the Quadrangle of the old Medical School in Teviot Place.[75]

On 10 May 1951, the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, founded in 1823 by William Dick,[76] was reconstituted as the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and officially became part of the university.[77] It achieved full faculty status as Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1964.

In 1955 the university opened the first department of nursing in Europe for academic study. This department was inspired by the work of Gladys Beaumont Carter and a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.[78]

By the end of the 1950s, there were around 7,000 students matriculating annually, more than doubling the numbers from the turn of the century.[79] The university addressed this partially through the redevelopment of George Square, demolishing much of the area's historic houses and erecting modern buildings such as 40 George Square, Appleton Tower and the Main Library.[80]

On 1 August 1998, the Moray House Institute of Education, founded in 1848, merged with the University of Edinburgh, becoming its Faculty of Education. Following the internal restructuring of the university in 2002, Moray House became known as the Moray House School of Education.[81] It was renamed the Moray House School of Education and Sport in August 2019.[82]

21st century[edit]

In the 1990s it became apparent that the old Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh buildings in Lauriston Place were no longer adequate for a modern teaching hospital. Donald Dewar, the Scottish Secretary at the time, authorized a joint project between private finance, local authorities, and the university to create a modern hospital and medical campus in the Little France area of Edinburgh.[83] The new campus was named the BioQuarter. The Chancellor's Building was opened on 12 August 2002 by Prince Philip, housing the new Edinburgh Medical School alongside the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.[84] In 2007, the campus saw the addition of the Euan MacDonald Centre as a research centre for motor neuron diseases, which was part-funded by Scottish entrepreneur Euan MacDonald and his father Donald.[85][86] In August 2010, author J. K. Rowling provided £10 million in funding to create the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic,[87] which was officially opened in October 2013.[88] The Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM) is a stem cell research centre dedicated to the development of regenerative treatments, which was opened in 2012.[89] CRM is also home to applied scientists working with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) and Roslin Cells.[90]

Atrium of the Informatics Forum

In December 2002, the Edinburgh Cowgate Fire destroyed a number of university buildings, including some 3,000 m2 (32,000 sq ft) of the School of Informatics at 80 South Bridge.[91][92] This was replaced with the Informatics Forum on Bristo Square, completed in July 2008. Also in 2002, the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre (ECRC) was opened on the Western General Hospital site.[93] In 2007, the MRC Human Genetics Unit formed a partnership with the Centre for Genomic & Experimental Medicine and the ECRC to create the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (renamed the Institute of Genetics and Cancer in 2021) on the same site.[94]

In April 2008, the Roslin Institute – an animal sciences research centre known for cloning Dolly the sheep – became part of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.[95] In 2011, the school moved into a new £60 million building on the Easter Bush campus, which now houses research and teaching facilities, and a hospital for small and farm animals.[96][97]

Edinburgh College of Art

Edinburgh College of Art, founded in 1760, formally merged with the university's School of Arts, Culture and Environment on 1 August 2011.[98][99] In 2014, the Zhejiang University-University of Edinburgh Institute (ZJE) was founded as an international joint institute offering degrees in biomedical sciences, taught in English.[100] The campus, located in Haining, Zhejiang Province, China, was established on 15 March 2016.[101]

The university began hosting a Wikimedian in Residence in 2016.[102] The residency was made into a full-time position in 2019, with the Wikimedian involved in teaching and learning activities within the scope of the University of Edinburgh WikiProject.[103]

In 2018, the University of Edinburgh was a signatory to the £1.3 billion Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, in partnership with the UK and Scottish governments, six local authorities and all universities and colleges in the region.[104] The university committed to delivering a range of economic benefits to the region through the Data-Driven Innovation initiative.[105] In conjunction with Heriot-Watt University, the deal created five innovation hubs: the Bayes Centre, Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI), Usher Institute, Easter Bush, and one further hub based at Heriot-Watt, the National Robotarium. The deal also included creation of the Edinburgh International Data Facility, which performs high-speed data processing in a secure environment.[106][107]

In September 2020, the university completed work on the Richard Verney Health Centre at its central area campus on Bristo Square. The facility houses a health centre and pharmacy, and the university's disability and counselling services.[108] The university's largest current expansion project is the conversion of some of the historic Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh buildings in Lauriston Place, which had been vacated in 2003 and partially developed into the Quartermile. The £120 million renovations and extension will provide space for the Edinburgh Futures Institute, an interdisciplinary hub linking arts, humanities, and social sciences with other disciplines in the research and teaching of 'complex futures'.[109][110]

Historical links[edit]

Edinburgh has a number of historical links to other universities, chiefly through its influential Medical School and its graduates, who established and developed institutions elsewhere in the world.

Campuses and buildings[edit]

Main locations of the University of Edinburgh. Easter Bush is located 7 miles south of the city.

The university has five main sites in Edinburgh:[122]

  • Central Area
  • King's Buildings
  • BioQuarter
  • Easter Bush
  • Western General

The university is responsible for several significant historic and modern buildings across the city, including St Cecilia's Hall, Scotland's oldest purpose-built concert hall and the second oldest in use in the British Isles;[123] Teviot Row House, the oldest purpose-built students' union building in the world;[63] and the restored 17th-century Mylne's Court student residence at the head of the Royal Mile.[13]

Central Area[edit]

The Main Library viewed from The Meadows
Old College Quadrangle
New College

The Central Area is spread around numerous squares and streets in Edinburgh's Southside, with some buildings in Old Town. It is the university's oldest area, occupied primarily by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the School of Informatics. The highest concentration of university buildings is around George Square, which includes 40 George Square (formerly David Hume Tower), Appleton Tower, Main Library, and Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre, the area's largest lecture hall. Around nearby Bristo Square lie the Dugald Stewart Building, Informatics Forum, McEwan Hall, Potterrow Student Centre, Teviot Row House, and old Medical School, which still houses pre-clinical medical courses and biomedical sciences.[46] The Pleasance, one of Edinburgh University Students' Association's main buildings, is located nearby, as is Edinburgh College of Art in Lauriston. North of George Square lies the university's Old College housing Edinburgh Law School, New College on The Mound housing the School of Divinity, and St Cecilia's Hall. Some of these buildings are used to host events during the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every summer.[124]

Pollock Halls[edit]

St Leonard's Hall

Pollock Halls, adjoining Holyrood Park to the east, is the university's largest residence hall for undergraduate students in their first year. The complex houses over 2,000 students during term time and consists of ten named buildings with communal green spaces between them.[125] The two original buildings, St Leonard's Hall and Salisbury Green, were built in the 19th century, while the majority of Pollock Halls dates from the 1960s and early 2000s. Two of the older houses in Pollock Halls were demolished in 2002, and a new building, Chancellor's Court, was built in their place and opened in 2003. Self-catered flats elsewhere account for the majority of university-provided accommodation. The area also includes the John McIntyre Conference Centre opened in 2009, which is the university's premier conference space.[126]

Holyrood[edit]

The Holyrood campus, just off the Royal Mile, used to be the site for Moray House Institute for Education until it merged with the university on 1 August 1998.[81] The university has since extended this campus.[127] The buildings include redeveloped and extended Sports Science, Physical Education and Leisure Management facilities at St Leonard's Land linked to the Sports Institute in the Pleasance.[128] The £80 million O'Shea Hall at Holyrood was named after the former principal of the university Sir Timothy O'Shea and was opened by Princess Anne in 2017, providing a living and social environment for postgraduate students.[129] The Outreach Centre, Institute for Academic Development (University Services Group), and Edinburgh Centre for Professional Legal Studies are also located at Holyrood.[130][131][132]

King's Buildings[edit]

Royal Observatory, Edinburgh

The King's Buildings campus is located in the south of the city. Most of the Science and Engineering College's research and teaching activities take place at the campus, which occupies a 35-hectare site. It includes the Alexander Graham Bell Building (for mobile phones and digital communications systems), James Clerk Maxwell Building (the administrative and teaching centre of the School of Physics and Astronomy and School of Mathematics), Joseph Black Building (home to the School of Chemistry), Royal Observatory, Swann Building (the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology), Waddington Building (the Centre for Systems Biology at Edinburgh), William Rankine Building (School of Engineering's Institute for Infrastructure and Environment), and others.[133] Until 2012, the KB campus was served by three libraries: Darwin Library, James Clerk Maxwell Library, and Robertson Engineering and Science Library. These were replaced by the Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library opened for the academic year 2012/13.[134][135] The campus also hosts the National e-Science Centre (NeSC), Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE), Scottish Microelectronics Centre (SMC), and Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC).

BioQuarter[edit]

Edinburgh BioQuarter

The BioQuarter campus, based in the Little France area, is home to the majority of medical facilities of the university, alongside the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. The campus houses the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Chancellor's Building, Euan MacDonald Centre, and Queen's Medical Research Institute, which opened in 2005.[84] The Chancellor's Building has two large lecture theatres and a medical library connected to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh by a series of corridors.

Easter Bush[edit]

The Easter Bush campus, located seven miles south of the city, houses the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education, Roslin Institute, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, and Veterinary Oncology and Imaging Centre.[96]

The Roslin Institute is an animal sciences research institute which is sponsored by BBSRC.[136] The Institute won international fame in 1996, when its researchers Sir Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and their colleagues created Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.[137][138] A year later Polly and Molly were cloned, both sheep contained a human gene.[139]

Western General[edit]

The Western General campus, in proximity to the Western General Hospital, contains the Biomedical Research Facility, Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility, and Institute of Genetics and Cancer (formerly the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine).

Organisation and administration[edit]

Governance[edit]

In common with the other ancient universities of Scotland, and in contrast to nearly all other pre-1992 universities which are established by royal charters, the University of Edinburgh is constituted by the Universities (Scotland) Acts 1858 to 1966. These acts provide for three major bodies in the governance of the university: the University Court, the General Council, and the Senatus Academicus.[50]

University Court[edit]

The University Court is the university's governing body and the legal person of the university, chaired by the rector and consisting of the principal, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and of Assessors appointed by the rector, chancellor, Edinburgh Town Council, General Council, and Senatus Academicus. By the Universities (Scotland) Act 1889, it is a body corporate, with perpetual succession and a common seal. All property belonging to the university at the passing of the Act was vested in the Court.[140] The present powers of the Court are further defined in the Universities (Scotland) Act 1966, including the administration and management of the university's revenue and property, the regulation of staff salaries, and the establishment and composition of committees of its own members or others.

General Council[edit]

The General Council consists of graduates, academic staff, current and former University Court members. It was established to ensure that graduates have a continuing voice in the management of the university. The Council is required to meet twice per year to consider matters affecting the wellbeing and prosperity of the university. The Universities (Scotland) Act 1966 gave the Council the power to consider draft ordinances and resolutions, to be presented with an annual report of the work and activities of the university, and to receive an audited financial statement.[141] The Council elects the chancellor of the university and three Assessors on the University Court.

Senatus Academicus[edit]

The Senatus Academicus is the university's supreme academic body, chaired by the principal and consisting of the professors, heads of departments, and a number of readers, lecturers and other teaching and research staff.[142] The core function of the Senatus is to regulate and supervise the teaching and discipline of the university and to promote research. The Senatus elects four Assessors on the University Court. The Senatus meets three times per year, hosting a presentation and discussion session which is open to all members of staff at each meeting.

University officials[edit]

The university's three most significant officials are its chancellor, rector, and principal, whose rights and responsibilities are largely derived from the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858.

The office of chancellor serves as the titular head and highest office of the university. Their duties include conferring degrees and enhancing the profile and reputation of the university on national and global levels.[143] The chancellor is elected by the university's General Council, and a person generally remains in the office for life. Previous chancellors include former prime minister Arthur Balfour and novelist Sir J. M. Barrie.[143] Princess Anne has held the position since March 2011 succeeding Prince Philip.[16] She is also Patron of the university's Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.

The principal is responsible for the overall operation of the university in a chief executive role.[144] The principal is formally nominated by the Curators of Patronage and appointed by the University Court. They are the President of the Senatus Academicus and a member of the University Court ex officio.[144] The principal is also automatically appointed vice-chancellor, in which role they confer degrees on behalf of the chancellor. Previous principals include physicist Sir Edward Appleton and religious philosopher Stewart Sutherland. The current principal is nephrologist Sir Peter Mathieson, who has held the position since February 2018.[145]

The office of rector is elected every three years by the staff and matriculated students. The primary role of the rector is to preside at the University Court.[146] The rector also chairs meetings of the General Council in absence of the chancellor. They work closely with students and Edinburgh University Students' Association. Previous rectors include microbiologist Sir Alexander Fleming, and former Prime Ministers Sir Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. The current rector is activist and writer Simon Fanshawe, who has held the position since March 2024.[146][147]

Colleges and schools[edit]

In 2002, the university was reorganised from its nine faculties into three 'Colleges'.[148] While technically not a collegiate university, it comprises the Colleges of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS), Science & Engineering (CSE) and Medicine & Vet Medicine (CMVM). Within these colleges are 'Schools', which either represent one academic discipline such as Informatics or assemble adjacent academic disciplines such as the School of History, Classics and Archaeology. While bound by College-level policies, individual Schools can differ in their organisation and governance. As of 2021, the university has 21 schools in total.[149]

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences[edit]

Department of Psychology building at 7 George Square
Elsie Inglis Quad at the Old Medical School, currently hosting the School of History, Classics and Archaeology

The College took on its current name of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in 2016 after absorbing the Edinburgh College of Art in 2011.[150] CAHSS offers more than 280 undergraduate degree programmes, 230 taught postgraduate programmes, and 200 research postgraduate programmes.[151][152] Twenty subjects offered by the college were ranked within the top 10 nationally in the 2022 Complete University Guide.[153] It includes the oldest English Literature department in Britain,[36] which was ranked 7th globally in the 2021 QS Rankings by Subject in English Language & Literature.[154] The college hosts Scotland's ESRC Doctoral Training Centre (DTC), the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science. The college is the largest of the three colleges by enrolment, with 26,130 students and 3,089 academic staff.[155][5]

Medicine and Veterinary Medicine[edit]

Members of the medical faculty at Edinburgh in the first half of the 19th century. Seated (L–R): J. Y. Simpson, J. Miller, J. H. Balfour and J. H. Bennett. Standing (L–R): R. Jameson, W. Alison and T. S. Traill.

Edinburgh Medical School was widely considered the best medical school in the English-speaking world throughout the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century and contributed significantly to the university's international reputation.[156][157] Its graduates founded medical schools all over the world, including at five of the seven Ivy League universities (Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, and Yale); those in McGill, Montréal, Sydney, and Vermont; the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (now part of Imperial College London), Middlesex Hospital, and the London School of Medicine for Women (both now part of UCL).

In the 21st century, the medical school has continued to excel, and it is associated with 13 Nobel Prize recipients: seven recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and six of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[158] In 2021, it was ranked third in the UK by The Times University Guide,[159] and the Complete University Guide. In 2022, it was ranked the UK's best medical school by the Guardian University Guide,[160] It also ranked 21st in the world by both the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings in 2021.[161]

The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies is a world leader in veterinary education, research and practice. The eight original faculties formed four Faculty Groups in August 1992. Medicine and Veterinary Medicine became one of these, and in 2002 became the smallest of the three colleges, with 7,740 students and 1,896 academic staff.[155][5] The university's teaching hospitals include the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, St John's Hospital, Livingston, Roodlands Hospital, and Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.[162][163][164]

Science and Engineering[edit]

Old Surgical Hospital in Drummond Street, once part of the Royal Infirmary, today houses the university's Institute of Geography.

In the 16th century, science was taught as "natural philosophy" in the university. The 17th century saw the institution of the University Chairs of Mathematics and Botany, followed the next century by Chairs of Natural History, Astronomy, Chemistry and Agriculture. It was Edinburgh's professors who took a leading part in the formation of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783. Joseph Black, Professor of Medicine and Chemistry at the time, founded the world's first Chemical Society in 1785.[165] The first named degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Science was instituted in 1864, and a separate Faculty of Science was created in 1893 after three centuries of scientific advances at Edinburgh.[165] The Regius Chair in Engineering was established in 1868, and the Regius Chair in Geology in 1871. In 1991 the Faculty of Science was renamed the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and in 2002 it became the College of Science and Engineering. The college has 11,745 students and 2,937 academic staff.[155][5]

Sub-units, centres and institutes[edit]

Edinburgh Futures Institute taking shape on the former site of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Some subunits, centres and institutes within the university are listed as follows:[166]

Staff, Community and Networking[edit]

In June 2023, the University employed over 11,800 full time equivalent staff:[167]

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
2,804
College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine
2,868
College of Science & Engineering
2,709
Corporate Services Group
2,145
Information Services Group
685
University Secretaries Group
674
University of Edinburgh Total:
11,885

As part of the university's support for researchers,[168] each College has Research Staff Societies that include postdoc societies, and organisations specific to each school.[169] Cross-curricula Research Networks bring together researchers working on similar topics.[170]

Independently of the College hierarchy, aligned with the university's EDI policy, seven Staff Networks bring together and represent diverse staff groups:[171]

  1. Disabled Staff Network[172]
  2. Staff BAME Network[173]
  3. Edinburgh Race Equality Network[174]
  4. Staff Pride Network[175]
  5. University & College Unions incorporating the national academic union[176] and the in-house Edinburgh University Union[177]
  6. Long-term Research Staff Network[178]
  7. Support for Technicians[179] and Steering Committee[180]

Industrial action[edit]

Staff at the university have been engaged in the sector-wide 2018–2023 UK higher education strikes called by the University and College Union over disputes regarding USS pensions, pay, and working conditions. A Marking and Assessment Boycott[181] that commenced on 20 April 2023[182] was called off on 6 September 2023.[183] However, the UCU voted to continue strike action throughout the rest of September.[184][185]

Academic profile[edit]

The university is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, and the Sutton 13 group of top-ranked universities in the UK.[186] It is the only British university to be a member of both the Coimbra Group and the League of European Research Universities, and it is a founding member of Una Europa and Universitas 21, both international associations of research-intensive universities.[187] The university maintains historically strong ties with the neighbouring Heriot-Watt University for teaching and research. Edinburgh also offers a wide range of free online MOOC courses on three global platforms Coursera, Edx and FutureLearn.[188][189]

Admissions[edit]

Undergraduate admission statistics[14]
2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
Applications 75,438 68,954 62,220 60,983 58,411
Offers 25,210 32,432 31,510 27,878 25,532
Offer Rate (%) 33.0 47.0 50.6 45.7 43.7
Enrolls 6,111 8,083 7,344 6,346 6,221
Yield (%) 24.2 24.9 23.3 22.8 24.4
Applicant/Enrolled Ratio 12.34 8.53 8.47 9.61 9.39
Average Entry Tariff[15] 197 190 186 187
HESA Student Body Composition
Domicile[190] and Ethnicity[191] Total
British White 47% 47
 
British Ethnic Minorities[c] 9% 9
 
International EU 9% 9
 
International Non-EU 35% 35
 
Undergraduate Widening Participation Indicators[192][193]
Female 61% 61
 
Private School 36% 36
 
Low Participation Areas[d] 9% 9
 

In 2021, the University of Edinburgh had the seventh-highest average entry standards amongst universities in the UK, with new undergraduates averaging 197 UCAS points, equivalent to just above AAAA in A-level grades.[15] It gave offers of admission to 33% of its 18 year old applicants in 2022, the fourth-lowest amongst the Russell Group.[194]

In 2022, excluding courses within Edinburgh College of Art, the most competitive courses for Scottish applicants were Oral Health Science (9%), Business (11%), Philosophy & Psychology (14%), Social Work (15%), and International Business (15%).[195] For students from the rest of the UK, the most competitive courses were Nursing (5%), Medicine (6%), Veterinary Medicine (6%), Psychology (8%), and Politics, Philosophy and Economics (10%).[196] For international students, the most competitive courses were Medicine (5%), Nursing (7%), Business (11%), Politics, Philosophy and Economics (12%), and Sociology (13%).[197]

For the academic year 2019/20, 36.8% of Edinburgh's new undergraduates were privately educated, the second-highest proportion among mainstream British universities, behind only Oxford.[198] As of August 2021, it has a higher proportion of female than male students with a male to female ratio of 38:62 in the undergraduate population, and the undergraduate student body is composed of 30% Scottish students, 32% from the rest of the UK, 10% from the EU, and 28% from outside the EU.[5]

Graduation[edit]

Edinburgh graduation ceremony in the McEwan Hall

At graduation ceremonies, graduates are being 'capped' with the Geneva bonnet, which involves the university's principal tapping them on the head with the cap while they receive their graduation certificate.[199] The velvet-and-silk hat has been used for over 150 years, and legend says that it was originally made from cloth taken from the breeches of 16th-century scholars John Knox or George Buchanan.[200] However, when the hat was last restored in the early 2000s, a label dated 1849 was discovered bearing the name of Edinburgh tailor Henry Banks, although some doubt remains whether he manufactured or restored the hat.[199][201] In 2006, a university emblem that had been taken into space by astronaut and Edinburgh graduate Piers Sellers was incorporated into the Geneva bonnet.[202]

Library system[edit]

Playfair Library Hall in Old College

Pre-dating the university by three years, Edinburgh University Library was founded in 1580 through the donation of a large collection by Clement Litill, and today is the largest academic library collection in Scotland.[203][204] The Brutalist style eight-storey Main Library building in George Square was designed by Sir Basil Spence. At the time of its completion in 1967, it was the largest building of its type in the UK, and today is a category A listed building.[205] The library system also includes many specialised libraries at the college and school level.[206]

Exchange programmes[edit]

The former principal Sir Timothy O'Shea signed an agreement with Peking University in 2012.

The university offers students the opportunity to study in Europe and beyond via the European Union's Erasmus+ programme[e] and a variety of international exchange agreements with around 300 partners institutions in nearly 40 countries worldwide.[208]

University-wide exchanges are open to almost any student whose degree permits a year abroad and who can find a suitable course combination. The list of partner institutions is shown as follows (part of):[209]

Subject-specific exchanges are open to students studying in particular schools or subject areas, including exchange programmes with Carnegie Mellon University, Emory University, Ecole du Louvre, EPFL, ETH Zurich, ESSEC Business School, ENS Paris, HEC Paris, Humboldt University of Berlin, Karolinska Institute, Kyoto University, LMU Munich, University of Michigan, Peking University, Rhode Island School of Design, Sorbonne University, TU München, Waseda University, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and others.[209]

Rankings and reputation[edit]

Rankings
National rankings
Complete (2024)[211]12
Guardian (2024)[212]14
Times / Sunday Times (2024)[213]13
Global rankings
ARWU (2023)[214]38
QS (2024)[215]22
THE (2024)[216]=30
University of Edinburgh's national league table performance over the past ten years

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), which evaluated work produced between 2014 and 2021, Edinburgh ranked 4th by research power and 15th by GPA amongst British universities.[217] The university fell four places in GPA when compared to the 2014 REF, but retained its place in research power.[218] 90 per cent of the university's research activity was judged to be 'world leading' (4*) or 'internationally excellent' (3*), and five departments – Computer Science, Informatics, Sociology, Anthropology, and Development Studies – were ranked as the best in the UK.[219]

In the 2015 THE Global Employability University Ranking, Edinburgh ranked 23rd in the world and 4th in the UK for graduate employability as voted by international recruiters.[220] A 2015 government report found that Edinburgh was one of only two Scottish universities (along with St Andrews) that some London-based elite recruitment firms considered applicants from, especially in the field of financial services and investment banking.[221] When The New York Times ranked universities based on the employability of graduates as evaluated by recruiters from top companies in 20 countries in 2012, Edinburgh was placed at 42nd in the world and 7th in Britain.[222]

Edinburgh was ranked 24th in the world and 5th in the UK by the 2021 Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities, a league table based on the three major world university rankings, ARWU, QS and THE.[223] In the 2022 U.S. News & World Report, Edinburgh ranked 32nd globally and 5th nationally.[224] The 2022 World Reputation Rankings placed Edinburgh at 32nd worldwide and 5th nationwide.[225] In 2023, it ranked 73rd amongst the universities around the world by the SCImago Institutions Rankings.[226]

The disparity between Edinburgh's research capacity, endowment and international status on the one hand, and its ranking in national league tables on the other, is largely due to the impact of measures of 'student satisfaction'.[227] Edinburgh was ranked last in the UK for teaching quality in the 2012 National Student Survey,[228] with the 2015 Good University Guide stating that this stemmed from "questions to do with the promptness, usefulness and extent of academic feedback", and that the university "still has a long way to go to turn around a poor position".[229] Edinburgh improved only marginally over the next years, with the 2021 Good University Guide still ranking it in the bottom 10 domestically in both teaching quality and student experience.[230] Edinburgh was ranked 122nd out of 128 universities for student satisfaction in the 2022 Complete University Guide, although it was ranked 12th overall.[231] The 2024 Guardian University Guide ranked Edinburgh 14th overall, but 50th out of 120 universities in teaching satisfaction, and lowest among all universities in satisfaction with feedback.[232]

In the 2022 Complete University Guide, 32 out of the 49 subjects offered by Edinburgh were ranked within the top 10 in the UK, with Asian Studies (4th), Chemical Engineering (4th), Education (2nd), Geology (5th), Linguistics (5th), Mechanical Engineering (5th), Medicine (5th), Music (5th), Nursing (1st), Physics & Astronomy (5th), Social Policy (5th), Theology & Religious Studies (4th), and Veterinary Medicine (2nd) within the top 5.[231] The 2021 THE World University Rankings by Subject ranked Edinburgh 10th worldwide in Arts and Humanities, 15th in Law, 16th in Psychology, 21st in Clinical, Pre-clinical & Health, 22nd in Computer Science, 28th in Education, 28th in Life Science, 43rd in Business & Economics, 44th in Social Sciences, 45th in Physical Sciences, and 86th in Engineering & Technology.[233] The 2023 QS World University Rankings by Subject placed Edinburgh at 10th globally in Arts & Humanities, 23rd in Life Sciences & Medicine, 36th in Natural Sciences, 50th in Social Sciences & Management, and 59th in Engineering & Technology.[234] According to CSRankings, computer science at Edinburgh was ranked 1st in the UK and 36th globally, and Edinburgh was the best in natural language processing (NLP) in the world.[235]

Student life[edit]

Students' Association[edit]

The Pleasance, one of EUSA's main buildings, is a theatre, bar, sports and recreation complex.

Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) consists of the students' union and the students' representative council. EUSA's buildings include Teviot Row House, The Pleasance, Potterrow Student Centre, Kings Buildings House, as well as shops, cafés and refectories across the various campuses. Teviot Row House is considered the oldest purpose-built student union building in the world.[63][236] Most of these buildings are operated as Edinburgh Festival Fringe venues during August. EUSA represents students to the university and the wider world, and is responsible for over 250 student societies at the university. The association has five sabbatical office bearers – a president and four vice presidents. EUSA is affiliated with the National Union of Students (NUS).

Performing arts[edit]

Amateur dramatic societies benefit from Edinburgh being an important cultural hub for comedy, amateur and fringe theatre throughout the UK, most prominently through the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[237]

EMUS Symphony Orchestra, performing Mahler's Symphony No. 1 at Greyfriars Kirk

The Edinburgh University Music Society (EUMS) is a student-run musical organisation, which is Scotland's oldest student's musical society; it can be traced back to a concert in February 1867.[238] It performs three concert series throughout the year whilst also undertaking a programme of charity events and education projects.[239]

The student-run Bedlam Theatre, home to the Edinburgh University Theatre Company

The Edinburgh University Theatre Company (EUTC), founded in 1890 as the Edinburgh University Drama Society, is known for running Bedlam Theatre, the oldest student-run theatre in Britain and venue for the Fringe.[240][241] EUTC also funds acclaimed improvisational comedy troupe The Improverts during term time and the Fringe.[242][243] Alumni include Sir Michael Boyd, Ian Charleson, Kevin McKidd, and Greg Wise.

The Edinburgh Studio Opera (formerly Edinburgh University Opera Club) is a student opera company in Edinburgh. It performs at least one fully staged opera each year.[244] The Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group (EUSOG) is an opera and musical theatre company founded by students in 1961 to promote and perform the comic operettas of Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, collectively known as Savoy Operas after the theatre in which they were originally staged.[245]

The Edinburgh University Footlights are a musical theatre company founded in 1989 and produce two large scale shows a year.[246][247] One of the founders is the Theatre Producer Colin Ingram.[248] Theatre Parodok, founded in 2004, is a student theatre company that aims to produce shows that are "experimental without being exclusive". They stage one large show each semester and one for the festival.[249]

Media[edit]

The Student is a fortnightly student newspaper. Founded in 1887 by writer Robert Louis Stevenson, it is the oldest student newspaper in the United Kingdom.[250] Former writers of the newspaper include politicians Gordon Brown, Robin Cook, and Lord Steel of Aikwood.[251][252] It has been independent of the university since 1992, but was forced to temporarily fold in 2002 due to increasing debts. The newspaper won a number of student newspaper awards in the years following its relaunch.[250]

The Journal was an independent publication, established in 2007 by three students and former writers for The Student. It was also distributed to other higher education institutions in the city, such as Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Napier University, and Telford College. It was the largest such publication in Scotland, with a print run of 10,000 copies. Despite winning a number of awards for its journalism, the magazine folded in 2015 due to financial difficulties.[253]

FreshAir, launched on 3 October 1992, is an alternative music student radio station. The station is one of the oldest surviving student radio stations in the UK, and won the "Student Radio Station of the Year" award at the annual Student Radio Awards in 2004.[254]

In September 2015, the Edinburgh University Student Television (EUTV) became the newest addition to the student media scene at the university, producing a regular magazine-style programme, documentaries and other special events.[255]

Sport[edit]

Edinburgh University Mountaineering Club at the cairn on Ciste Dhubh, 1964

Student sport at Edinburgh consists of clubs covering the more traditional rugby, football, rowing and judo, to the more unconventional korfball, gliding and mountaineering. In 2021, the university had over 65 sports clubs run by Edinburgh University Sports Union (EUSU).[256]

The Scottish Varsity, known as the "world's oldest varsity match", is a rugby match played annually against the University of St Andrews dating back over 150 years.[257] Discontinued in the 1950s, the match was resurrected in 2011 and was staged in London at the home of London Scottish RFC. It is played at the beginning of the academic year, and since 2015 has been staged at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.[258]

The Scottish Boat Race is an annual rowing race between the Glasgow University Boat Club and the Edinburgh University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights on the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Started in 1877, it is believed to be the third-oldest university boat race in the world, predated by the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race and the Harvard–Yale Regatta.[259]

Edinburgh athletes have repeatedly been successful at the Olympic Games: Sprinter Eric Liddell won gold and bronze at the 1924 Summer Olympics. At the 1948 Summer Olympics, alumnus Jackie Robinson won a gold medal with the American Basketball team. Trap shooter Bob Braithwaite secured a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Cyclist Sir Chris Hoy won six gold and one silver medal between 2000 and 2012. Rower Dame Katherine Grainger won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and four further silver medals between 2000 and 2016. Edinburgh was the most successful UK university at the 2012 Games with two gold medals from Hoy and one from Grainger.[260]

Student activism[edit]

There are a number of campaigning societies at the university. The largest of these include the environment and poverty campaigning group People & Planet and Amnesty International Society. International development organisations include Edinburgh Global Partnerships, which was established as a student-led charity in 1990.[261] There is also a significant left-wing presence on campus,[262] including an anti-austerity group, Edinburgh University Anarchist Society, Edinburgh University Socialist Society, Edinburgh Young Greens, Feminist Society, LGBT+ Pride,[263] Marxist Society, and Students for Justice in Palestine.[264]

Protests, demonstrations and occupations are regular occurrences at the university.[265][266][267] The activist group People & Planet took over Charles Stewart House in 2015 and again in 2016 in protest over the university's investment in companies active in arms manufacturing or fossil fuel extraction.[268][269] In May 2015, a security guard was charged in relation to the occupations.[270]

Student co-operatives[edit]

There are three student-run co-operatives associated with the University: Edinburgh Student Housing Co-operative (ESHC), providing affordable housing for 106 students;[271] the Hearty Squirrel Food Cooperative, providing local, organic and affordable food to students and staff;[272] and the SHRUB Coop, a swap and re-use hub aimed at reducing waste and promoting sustainability.[273] Of these, only the Hearty Squirrel Co-operative operates on campus. ESHC is based on the Bruntsfield Links south of the University's central campus, and hosts students from all three city universities and Edinburgh College. The SHRUB co-operative was formed partly by University of Edinburgh students but is now run by interested members from across Edinburgh. The co-operatives form part of the Students for Cooperation network.[274]

Notable people[edit]

The university is associated with some of the most significant intellectual and scientific contributions in human history, which include: the foundation of Antiseptic surgery (Joseph Lister),[275] Bayesian statistics (Thomas Bayes),[276] Economics (Adam Smith),[277] Electromagnetism (James Clerk Maxwell),[278] Evolution (Charles Darwin),[279][280] Knot theory (Peter Guthrie Tait),[281] modern Geology (James Hutton),[282] Nephrology (Richard Bright),[283] Endocrinology (Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer),[284] Hematology (William Hewson),[285] Dermatology (Robert Willan),[286] Epigenetics (C. H. Waddington),[287] Gestalt psychology (Kurt Koffka), Thermodynamics (William Rankine), Colloid chemistry (Thomas Graham),[288] and Wave theory (Thomas Young); the discovery of Brownian motion (Robert Brown),[289] Magnesium, carbon dioxide, latent heat and specific heat (Joseph Black),[290][291] chloroform anaesthesia (Sir James Young Simpson),[292] Hepatitis B vaccine (Sir Kenneth Murray),[293] Cygnus X-1 black hole (Paul Murdin),[294] Higgs mechanism (Sir Tom Kibble),[295][296] structure of DNA (Sir John Randall),[297] HPV vaccine (Ian Frazer), Iridium and Osmium (Smithson Tennant),[298] Nitrogen (Daniel Rutherford),[299] Strontium (Thomas Charles Hope),[300] and SARS coronavirus (Zhong Nanshan);[301] and the invention of the Stirling engine (Robert Stirling),[302] Cavity magnetron (Sir John Randall),[303] ATM (John Shepherd-Barron),[304] refrigerator (William Cullen),[305] diving chamber (John Scott Haldane),[306] reflecting telescope (James Gregory),[307] hypodermic syringe (Alexander Wood),[308][309] kaleidoscope (Sir David Brewster),[310] pneumatic tyre (John Boyd Dunlop),[311] telephone (Alexander Graham Bell),[312] telpherage (Fleeming Jenkin), and vacuum flask (Sir James Dewar).[313]

Other notable alumni and academic staff of the university have included signatories to the US Declaration of Independence Benjamin Rush,[314] James Wilson[315] and John Witherspoon,[316] actors Ian Charleson,[317] Robbie Coltrane and Kevin McKidd, architects Robert Adam,[318] William Thornton, William Henry Playfair,[319] Sir Basil Spence and Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, astronaut Piers Sellers,[320] biologists Sir Adrian Bird,[321] Sir Richard Owen[322] and Sir Ian Wilmut,[323] business executives Tony Hayward, Alan Jope, Lars Rasmussen and Susie Wolff, composer Max Richter, economists Kenneth E. Boulding[324] and Thomas Chalmers, historians Thomas Carlyle[325] and Neil MacGregor, journalists Laura Kuenssberg and Peter Pomerantsev, judges Lord Reed[326] and Lord Hodge,[327] mathematicians Sir W. V. D. Hodge,[328] Colin Maclaurin[329] and Sir E. T. Whittaker,[330] philosophers Benjamin Constant, Adam Ferguson,[331] Ernest Gellner and David Hume,[332] physicians Thomas Addison,[333] William Cullen,[334] Valentín Fuster, Thomas Hodgkin[335] and James Lind,[336] pilot Eric Brown,[337] surgeons James Barry,[338] Joseph Bell,[339] Robert Liston[340] and B. K. Misra,[341] sociologists Sir Patrick Geddes[342] and David Bloor,[343] writers Sir J. M. Barrie,[344] Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,[345][346] John Fowles, Oliver Goldsmith, J. K. Rowling,[f][347] Sir Walter Scott[348] and Robert Louis Stevenson,[349] Chancellors of the Exchequer John Anderson[350] and Lord Henry Petty,[351] former Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand Sir Michael Cullen, current Vice President of Syria Najah al-Attar, former Director General of MI5 Stella Rimington, First Lords of the Admiralty Lord Melville, Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, Lord Minto and Lord Selkirk, Foreign Secretaries Robin Cook[352] and Sir Malcolm Rifkind,[353] former acting First Minister of Scotland Jim Wallace, and Olympic gold medallists Bob Braithwaite, Katherine Grainger, Sir Chris Hoy and Eric Liddell.[354]

Nobel and Nobel equivalent prizes[edit]

Max Born, Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh from 1936 to 1953, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954.[355]
Peter Higgs, faculty at Edinburgh since 1960 and Emeritus Professor after 1996, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013.[356]

As of August 2023, 19 Nobel Prize laureates have been affiliated with the university as alumni, faculty members or researchers (three additional laureates acted as administrative staff),[20] including one of the fathers of quantum mechanics Max Born,[357] theoretical physicist Peter Higgs,[358] chemist Sir Fraser Stoddart,[359] immunologist Peter C. Doherty,[360] economist Sir James Mirrlees,[361] discoverer of Characteristic X-ray (Charles Glover Barkla)[362] and the mechanism of ATP synthesis (Peter D. Mitchell),[363] and pioneer in cryo-electron microscopy (Richard Henderson)[364] and in-vitro fertilisation (Sir Robert Edwards).[365] Turing Award winners Geoffrey Hinton,[366] Robin Milner[367] Leslie Valiant,[368] and mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah,[369] Fields Medalist and Abel Prize laureate, are associated with the university.

In the following table, the number following a person's name is the year they received the Nobel prize. In particular, a number with an asterisk (*) means the person received the award while they were working at the university (including emeritus staff). A name underlined implies that this person has been listed previously (i.e., multiple affiliations).

Category Alumni Long-term academic staff Short-term academic staff
Physics (4)
  1. Igor Tamm – 1958
  1. Peter Higgs – 2013*
  2. Max Born – 1954*
  3. Charles Glover Barkla – 1917*
Chemistry (6)
  1. Richard Henderson – 2017
  2. Fraser Stoddart – 2016
  1. Peter D. Mitchell – 1978
  1. Kurt Wüthrich – 2002
  2. Alexander R. Todd – 1957
  3. Vincent du Vigneaud – 1955
Physiology or Medicine (7)
  1. Robert G. Edwards – 2010
  2. Peter C. Doherty – 1996
  1. Hermann J. Muller – 1946
  1. Michael Rosbash – 2017
  2. Edvard Moser – 2014
  3. May-Britt Moser – 2014
  4. Robert G. Edwards – 2010
  5. Paul Nurse – 2001
Economics (1)
  1. James Mirrlees – 1996
Peace (1)
  1. Joseph Rotblat – 1995

Heads of state and government[edit]

Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister and consecutive 10-year-long Chancellor of the Exchequer, is an alumnus (MA '72, PhD '82) and former rector of the university.[370]
Leader State/government Office
Hastings Banda[371][372]  Malawi Prime Minister (1964–1966), President (1966–1994)
Sir Robert Black[373] Singapore Colony of Singapore Governor (1955–1957)
 British Hong Kong Governor (1958–1964)
Sir Thomas Brisbane[374]  New South Wales Governor (1821–1825)
Gordon Brown[375]  United Kingdom Prime Minister (2007–2010)
Chang Taek-sang (張澤相)[376]  South Korea Prime Minister (1952)
John Crawfurd[377] East India Company Colonial Singapore Resident (1823–1826)
Sir Gilbert Elliott[378] Corsica Anglo-Corsican Kingdom Viceroy (1793–1796)
East India Company British India Governor-General (1807–1813)
Sir Dawda Jawara[379] The Gambia Gambia Colony and Protectorate Prime Minister (1962–1965)
The Gambia The Gambia Prime Minister (1965–1970), President (1970–1994)
Yusuf Lule[380]  Uganda President (1979)
Fawzi Mulki[381]  Jordan Prime Minister (1953–1954)
Lord Dunrossil[382]  Australia Governor-General (1960–1961)
Daniel Chanis Pinzón[383]  Panama President (1949)
Julius Nyerere[384][385]  Tanganyika Chief Minister (1960–1961), Prime Minister (1961–1962), President (1962–1964)
 Tanzania President (1964–1985)
Paul Reeves[386]  New Zealand Governor-General (1985–1990)
Lord John Russell[387]  United Kingdom Prime Minister (1846–1852; 1865–1866)
Lord Palmerston[388]  United Kingdom Prime Minister (1855–1858; 1859–1865)
Sir Charles Tupper[389] Canada Prime Minister (1896)
William Walker Nicaragua President (1856–1857)
Yun Posun (尹潽善)[390]  South Korea President (1960–1962)

In popular culture[edit]

The University of Edinburgh has featured prominently in a number of works of popular culture.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ HESA numbers given here are significantly lower than those reported by the university, since HESA does not include non-graduating and visiting students, postgraduates writing up, and online learning students living abroad.[5]
  2. ^ Liddell (1), Robinson (1), Braithwaite (1), Hoy (6), Grainger (1)
  3. ^ Includes those who indicate in their UCAS application that they identify as Asian, Black, Mixed Heritage, Arab or any other ethnicity except White.
  4. ^ Calculated from the Polar4 measure, using Quintile1, in England and Wales. Calculated from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) measure, using SIMD20, in Scotland.
  5. ^ Following Brexit, the UK will no longer participate in the next Erasmus+ programme (2021–2027), but funding remains available for students to go abroad under the current programme until 31 May 2023.[207]
  6. ^ Rowling attended the Moray House School of Education in 1995, before it merged with the university in 1998.
  7. ^ The Mask of Fu Manchu, 1932

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Opening of Edinburgh University, 1583". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Annual Report and Accounts for the Year to 31 July 2023" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Staff Headcount & Full Time Equivalent Statistics (FTE) as at Oct-22". Human Resources, The University of Edinburgh. October 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "Where do HE students study? | HESA". hesa.ac.uk.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Factsheet of Student Figures" (PDF). Strategic Planning, The University of Edinburgh. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Edinburgh's core colours". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  7. ^ Moss, Michael S. (June 2004). "Reviewed Work: The University of Edinburgh: An Illustrated History by Robert D. Anderson, Michael Lynch, Nicholas Phillipson". The English Historical Review. 119 (482): 810–811. doi:10.1093/ehr/119.482.810. JSTOR 3489575. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  8. ^ Lowrey, John (June 2001). "From Caesarea to Athens: Greek Revival Edinburgh and the Question of Scottish Identity within the Unionist State". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 60 (2): 136–157. doi:10.2307/991701. JSTOR 991701. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  9. ^ "The University of Edinburgh : Rankings, Fees & Courses Details". Top Universities. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  10. ^ "World University Rankings – University of Edinburgh". Times Higher Education. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  11. ^ "Shanghai Ranking-Universities". Shanghairanking.com. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  12. ^ "Affiliations". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  13. ^ a b "University Heritage". Edinburgh World Heritage. 24 November 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Undergraduate admissions statistics". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  15. ^ a b c "Complete University Guide 2024 – Entry Standards". The Complete University Guide. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  16. ^ a b "New Chancellor elected". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  17. ^ "JK Rowling awarded honorary degree". The Telegraph. 8 July 2004. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  18. ^ "Alumni in history". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Commemorative plaques". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  20. ^ a b "Nobel Prizes". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  21. ^ a b c d "Will of Bishop Robert Reid, 1557". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  22. ^ "Charter by King James VI". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  23. ^ Grant, Alexander (1884). The Story of the University of Edinburgh During Its First Three Hundred Years. London: Longmans, Green & Co. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  24. ^ Horner, Winifred Bryan (1993). Nineteenth-century Scottish Rhetoric: The American Connection. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780809314706. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  25. ^ a b "University of Edinburgh". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  26. ^ Hermans, Jos. M. M.; Nelissen, Marc (1 January 2005). Charters of Foundation and Early Documents of the Universities of the Coimbra Group. Leuven University Press. p. 42. ISBN 90-5867-474-6. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  27. ^ a b "Our History – Robert Rollock (1555-1599)". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  28. ^ Wormald, Jenny (1983). Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland 1470-1625 (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-7486-2901-5. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctt1tqxtnk. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  29. ^ "Our History – James VI and I". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  30. ^ "Our History – University of Edinburgh". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  31. ^ a b "Our History – Purge of Episcopalian and Jacobite Staff, 1690". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  32. ^ "To Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr. Paris, Aug. 27, 1786". University of Groningen. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  33. ^ a b c "Our History – Town Council". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  34. ^ "Our history". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  35. ^ "Foundation of Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, 1760". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  36. ^ a b "250th Anniversary of English Literature". The University of Edinburgh. 18 October 2011. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  37. ^ Mullett, Charles F. (1 February 1968). "A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556–1889. By D. B. Horn". The American Historical Review. 73 (3): 808. doi:10.1086/ahr/73.3.808. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  38. ^ a b Thornton, Robert (Fall 1968). "The University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Enlightenment". Texas Studies in Literature and Language. 10 (3): 415–422. JSTOR 40755174. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  39. ^ Morrell, J. B. (1971). "The University of Edinburgh in the Late Eighteenth Century: Its Scientific Eminence and Academic Structure". Isis. 62 (2): 158–171. doi:10.1086/350728. S2CID 144076477. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  40. ^ "Scottish Enlightenment". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  41. ^ Nolan, J. Bennett (1938). Benjamin Franklin in Scotland and Ireland 1759 and 1771. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 50. doi:10.9783/9781512805048. ISBN 9781512805031. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  42. ^ "From Thomas Jefferson to Dugald Stewart, 21 June 1789". Founders Online. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  43. ^ "Laying of Foundation Stone of Old College". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  44. ^ "Medicine at the University of Edinburgh". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  45. ^ "Campus curiosities 17: Tunnels". Times Higher Education. 11 November 2005. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  46. ^ a b "Self-guided tour to Central Area" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  47. ^ McLean, David (14 December 2020). "This Edinburgh students' snowball fight ended with the army being sent in". The Edinburgh Evening News - The Scotsman. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  48. ^ "Edinburgh Snowball Riot of 1838 – Old Weird Scotland". Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  49. ^ "Snowball Fights in Art (1400–1946)". The Public Domain Review. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  50. ^ a b "Our History – Universities (Scotland) Act 1858". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  51. ^ "Edinburgh Seven". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  52. ^ Moore, Wendy (5 July 2019). "Trailblazing women in medicine: laurels at last for Edinburgh Seven". Lancet. 394 (10195): 294–295. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(19)31565-x. PMID 31285040. S2CID 205990929. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  53. ^ "First Graduation of Female Students, 1893". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  54. ^ McCullins, Darren (16 November 2018). "Sophia Jex-Blake: The battle to be Scotland's first female doctor". BBC News. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  55. ^ "'Edinburgh Seven' honoured with plaque in Edinburgh". BBC News. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  56. ^ "Pioneering Edinburgh Seven students awarded honorary degrees". The Herald. Glasgow. 6 July 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  57. ^ "Our History – Medical School". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  58. ^ "Opening of New Medical School, 1884". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  59. ^ "William McEwan". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  60. ^ "Opening of McEwan Hall, 1897". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  61. ^ "Foundation of Students' Representative Council, 1884". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  62. ^ Wintersgill, Donald (8 October 2009). "Bell, Robert Fitzroy (1859–1908)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/100753. Retrieved 14 August 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  63. ^ a b c "Opening of University Union, 1889". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  64. ^ "Our History – Edinburgh University Women's Union". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  65. ^ "Foundation of Edinburgh University Students' Association, 1973". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  66. ^ Catto, Iain (1 January 1989). 'No spirits and precious few women': Edinburgh University Union 1889-1989. Edinburgh University Union. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  67. ^ a b "Laying of Foundation Stone of King's Buildings, 1920". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  68. ^ "Our History – King's Buildings". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  69. ^ "Foundation of New College, 1846". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  70. ^ "Faculty of Divinity". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  71. ^ Brown, Stewart J. (1 July 1996). "The Disruption and the Dream: The Making of New College 1843–1861". In Wright, David F.; Badcock, Gary D. (eds.). Disruption to Diversity: Edinburgh Divinity 1846-1996. Edinburgh: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 29–50. ISBN 978-0567085177. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  72. ^ "Merger of New College and University Faculty of Divinity". New College Past, Present & Future. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  73. ^ "The Polish School of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (1941-1949)". The University of Edinburgh. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  74. ^ "Foundation of Polish School of Medicine, 1941". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  75. ^ "The Polish School of Medicine". Polish-Scottish Heritage. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  76. ^ "William Dick – a pioneer of veterinary education". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  77. ^ "Integration of Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, 1951". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  78. ^ Yarwood, Dianne (11 January 2024), "Carter, Gladys Beaumont (1887–1959), midwife and nurse", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382489, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 7 February 2024
  79. ^ "Edinburgh's student roll now 7,400". The Herald. Glasgow. 5 October 1960. p. 6. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  80. ^ "George Square". Edinburgh World Heritage. 24 November 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  81. ^ a b "Merger with Moray House Institute of Education, 1998". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  82. ^ "School of Education name change honours sport". College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  83. ^ "Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh". The Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  84. ^ a b "Opening of New Medical School, 2002". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  85. ^ Donnelly, Brian (27 June 2007). "Hotel chain's founder gives cash for motor neurone centre". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  86. ^ Anderson, Barry (4 October 2011). "Motor neurone sufferer gives £1m to create research centre". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  87. ^ "JK Rowling gives £10m for Edinburgh MS centre". BBC News. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  88. ^ "JK Rowling's MS clinic is officially opened at Edinburgh University". BBC News. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  89. ^ "Princess Royal opens Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine". BBC News. 28 May 2012.
  90. ^ "Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine". Health Science Scotland. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  91. ^ Seenan, Gerard (9 December 2002). "Fire devastates Edinburgh's Old Town". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  92. ^ "Fire Damage to School of Informatics, 2002". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  93. ^ "Royal launch for cancer centre". BBC News. 6 December 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  94. ^ "Experts join up for cancer fight". BBC News. 26 November 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  95. ^ "Roslin Institute – History". Roslin Institute. Archived from the original on 29 November 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  96. ^ a b "Opening of Easter Bush Veterinary Campus, 2011". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  97. ^ "New home for Roslin Institute". Veterinary Record. 169 (2). London: 34. 9 July 2011. doi:10.1136/vr.d4061. S2CID 219199064. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  98. ^ "Merger with Edinburgh College of Art, 2011". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  99. ^ "ECA merger". The University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  100. ^ Morris, Bridget (21 October 2017). "Edinburgh University teams up with Chinese in joint campus venture". The National. Glasgow. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  101. ^ "Historical Timeline". Zhejiang University. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  102. ^ "Balance for Better – Teaching Matters". The University of Edinburgh. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  103. ^ "Wikimedian in Residence". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  104. ^ "HOME". The Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  105. ^ "Official website". Data-Driven Innovation. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  106. ^ Forsdick, Sam (13 August 2018). "Edinburgh's city deal bets £791m on technology". New Statesman. London. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  107. ^ Kemp, Kenny (19 December 2018). "First tranche of Edinburgh City Region deal investment unveiled". Scottish Business Insider. Edinburgh. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  108. ^ "New Health and Wellbeing Centre opens". The University of Edinburgh. 21 September 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  109. ^ "Edinburgh Futures Institute at Quartermile". The University of Edinburgh. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  110. ^ "Ethos". Edinburgh Futures Institute. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  111. ^ "Edinburgh's Links to the USA". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  112. ^ "History and Tradition". Dalhousie University. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  113. ^ "George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  114. ^ White, Paul Dudley (June 1973). "Review of 'Dartmouth Medical School: The First 176 Years'". The New England Quarterly. 46: 306–308. doi:10.2307/364128. JSTOR 364128. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  115. ^ Schatzki, Stefan C. (August 2006). "Benjamin Waterhouse". American Journal of Roentgenology. 187 (2): 585. doi:10.2214/AJR.05.2125. PMID 16861568. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  116. ^ Cruess, Richard L. (26 November 2007). "Brief history of Medicine at McGill". Mcgill University. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  117. ^ Hanaway, Joseph; Cruess, Richard (8 March 1996). McGill Medicine, Volume 1: The First Half Century, 1829-1885. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 9780773513242. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  118. ^ "School of Medicine: A Brief History, University of Pennsylvania University Archives". University of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  119. ^ Rosner, Lisa (1 April 1992). "Thistle on the Delaware: Edinburgh Medical Education and Philadelphia Practice, 1800–1825". Social History of Medicine. 5 (1): 19–42. doi:10.1093/shm/5.1.19. PMID 11612775. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  120. ^ "Edinburgh and the USA". The University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  121. ^ "John Witherspoon". The Presidents of Princeton University. Princeton University. 26 November 2013. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  122. ^ "Campus maps" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  123. ^ "St Cecilia's Hall – About The Museum". St Cecilia's Hall Concert Room and Music Museum. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  124. ^ "Edinburgh Festival Fringe". The University of Edinburgh. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  125. ^ "Pollock Halls". The University of Edinburgh. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  126. ^ Lourie, Emma (10 November 2019). "John McIntyre Conference Centre celebrates a decade in business". The Edinburgh Reporter. Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  127. ^ "Holyrood Campus – buildings and opening hours". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  128. ^ "St Leonard's Land building profile". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  129. ^ "Halls given royal seal of approval". The University of Edinburgh. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  130. ^ "Outreach Centre building profile". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  131. ^ "Institute for Academic Development". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  132. ^ "Edinburgh Centre for Professional Legal Studies". Edinburgh Law School. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  133. ^ "Self-guided tour to King's Buildings" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  134. ^ "Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library Open to Students". Austin-Smith:Lord. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  135. ^ "University of Edinburgh Noreen & Kenneth Murray Library". Austin-Smith:Lord. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  136. ^ "History of the Institute". The University of Edinburgh. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  137. ^ Campbell, K. H. S.; McWhir, J.; Ritchie, W. A.; Wilmut, I. (7 March 1996). "Sheep cloned by nuclear transfer from a cultured cell line". Nature. 380 (6569): 64–66. Bibcode:1996Natur.380...64C. doi:10.1038/380064a0. PMID 8598906. S2CID 3529638. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  138. ^ Firn, David (March 1999). "Roslin Institute upset by human cloning suggestions". Nature Medicine. 5 (3): 253. doi:10.1038/6449. PMID 10086368. S2CID 41278352.
  139. ^ "Cloning of Dolly the Sheep, 1996". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  140. ^ "University Court". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  141. ^ "General Council". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  142. ^ "Senatus Academicus". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  143. ^ a b "The Chancellor". The University of Edinburgh. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  144. ^ a b "The role of Principal and Vice-Chancellor". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  145. ^ "Principal and Vice-Chancellor". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  146. ^ a b "The Rector". The University of Edinburgh. March 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  147. ^ "Activist Simon Fanshawe named as University of Edinburgh rector". BBC News. 12 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  148. ^ "Reconstitution of Faculties into Colleges, 2002". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  149. ^ "Colleges and schools". The University of Edinburgh. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  150. ^ "College renamed to reflect growth in arts". The University of Edinburgh. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  151. ^ "Undergraduate degree finder". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  152. ^ "Postgraduate degree finder". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  153. ^ "Teaching and learning". The University of Edinburgh. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  154. ^ "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021: English Language and Literature". Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  155. ^ a b c "Staff Headcount & Full Time Equivalent Statistics (FTE) as at Sep-21". Human Resources, The University of Edinburgh. September 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  156. ^ Eddy, Matthew D. (15 November 2016). The Language of Mineralogy: John Walker, Chemistry and the Edinburgh Medical School, 1750–1800. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315238807. ISBN 9781138265646.
  157. ^ "College Overview". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  158. ^ "Nobel Prizes". University of Edinburgh. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  159. ^ "Best universities for medicine: The Times league table". The Times. London. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  160. ^ "University guide 2021: Medicine". The Guardian. London. 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  161. ^ "QS World Rankings by Faculty Life Science/Medicine". 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  162. ^ "About The Royal". NHS Lothian's Medical Education Directorate. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  163. ^ "Western General Hospital". The University of Edinburgh. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  164. ^ "About Child Life and Health". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  165. ^ a b "About the College". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  166. ^ "Sub-units, centres and institutes". The University of Edinburgh. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  167. ^ Staff Population Statistics. Official site.
  168. ^ Community & Networking. Official site.
  169. ^ Current Research Staff Societies. Official site.
  170. ^ University Research Networks & Centres. Official site.
  171. ^ Staff Networks. Official site.
  172. ^ Disabled Staff Network.
  173. ^ Staff BAME Network
  174. ^ Edinburgh Race Equality Network,
  175. ^ Staff Pride Network.
  176. ^ University & College Union.
  177. ^ UCU.
  178. ^ IAD4RESEARCHERS
  179. ^ Support for Technicians.
  180. ^ Technician Steering Committee
  181. ^ "Marking and Assessment Boycott FAQs". UCU Edinburgh. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  182. ^ "University of Edinburgh staff condemn marking boycott response". BBC News. 10 May 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  183. ^ "University of Edinburgh pauses pay deductions as strike action called off". The Herald. 4 August 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  184. ^ "More strike action to hit universities as employers refuse to negotiate". www.ucu.org.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  185. ^ "Industrial Action 2023/24". The University of Edinburgh. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  186. ^ "Old school 'key to student place'". BBC News. 20 September 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  187. ^ "European Universities Initiative launches UNA Europa". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  188. ^ "The University of Edinburgh Online Courses". Coursera. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  189. ^ "EdinburghX – Free online courses from The University of Edinburgh". edX. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  190. ^ "Where do HE students study?: Students by HE provider". HESA. HE student enrolments by HE provider. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  191. ^ "Who's studying in HE?: Personal characteristics". HESA. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  192. ^ "Widening participation: UK Performance Indicators: Table T2a - Participation of under-represented groups in higher education". Higher Education Statistics Authority. hesa.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  193. ^ "Good University Guide: Social Inclusion Ranking". The Times. 16 September 2022.
  194. ^ "Sex, area background and ethnic group: E56 The University of Edinburgh". UCAS. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  195. ^ "Scotland and EU tuition fee status admissions statistics" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  196. ^ "Rest of UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) tuition fee status admissions statistics" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  197. ^ "Overseas (Non-EU) tuition fee status admissions statistics" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  198. ^ "Widening participation: UK Performance Indicators 2019/20". Higher Education Statistics Authority. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  199. ^ a b "Edinburgh Graduations – The real story behind the 'Geneva bonnet'". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  200. ^ "Omniana". The University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 16 August 2005. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
  201. ^ "Gently does it with hat used on 100,000 students". The Herald. Glasgow. 18 July 2000. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  202. ^ Luscombe, Richard (25 June 2006). "One small step for John Knox, one giant leap for university". Scotland on Sunday. Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
  203. ^ "Bequest of Clement Litill's Library, 1580". Our History. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  204. ^ Sturges, Paul (1983). "Edinburgh University Library 1580-1980: A Collection of Historical Essays by Jean R. Guild, Alexander Law". The Journal of Library History. 18 (2): 200–202. JSTOR 25541382. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  205. ^ "Our History – Main Library". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  206. ^ "Library locations". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  207. ^ "Erasmus+ grant". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  208. ^ "Where can I go?". The University of Edinburgh. 2 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  209. ^ a b "2022/2023 Exchange Destinations" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  210. ^ "Notes of Guidance for University of California" (PDF). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  211. ^ "Complete University Guide 2024". The Complete University Guide. 7 June 2023.
  212. ^ "Guardian University Guide 2024". The Guardian. 9 September 2023.
  213. ^ "Good University Guide 2024". The Times. 15 September 2023.
  214. ^ "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2023". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. 15 August 2023.
  215. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2024". Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. 27 June 2023.
  216. ^ "THE World University Rankings 2024". Times Higher Education. 28 September 2023.
  217. ^ "REF 2021: Quality ratings hit new high in expanded assessment". Times Higher Education (THE). 12 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  218. ^ "REF 2021 Main Online Table". Times Higher Education (THE). 11 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  219. ^ "Research rankings confirm Edinburgh as world leader". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  220. ^ "Global Employability University Ranking 2015 results". Times Higher Education. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  221. ^ "A qualitative evaluation of non-educational barriers to the elite professions" (PDF). Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. pp. 14, 79–80. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  222. ^ "What the job market wants". The New York Times. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  223. ^ "ARTU 2021". University of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  224. ^ "2022 Best Global Universities Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  225. ^ "World Reputation Rankings 2022". Times Higher Education. 12 November 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  226. ^ "University Rankings 2021". SCImago Institutions Rankings. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  227. ^ Turner, Camilla (9 August 2017). "Two of Britain's leading universities fall well below benchmark for student satisfaction, survey finds". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  228. ^ "Edinburgh University worst for teaching". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  229. ^ "Good University Guide 2015 – University of Edinburgh". The Times. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  230. ^ "Good University Guide 2021 – University of Edinburgh". The Times. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  231. ^ a b "Complete University Guide 2022 – University of Edinburgh". The Complete University Guide. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  232. ^ "The Guardian University Guide 2024 – the rankings". The Guardian. 9 September 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  233. ^ "World University Rankings by Subject". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  234. ^ "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023". QS Top Universities. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  235. ^ "CSRankings: Computer Science Rankings". Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  236. ^ "Teviot Row House". Edinburgh World Heritage. 24 November 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  237. ^ "Edinburgh festival news and reviews". The Guardian. London. 10 February 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  238. ^ Oakeley, Edward Murray (1 January 1904). The Life of Sir Herbert Stanley Oakeley (1st ed.). University of California Libraries. ISBN 0217800548.
  239. ^ "History". Edinburgh University Music Society. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  240. ^ "Theatrical Gossip". The Era. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  241. ^ "Fringe 2013 – Bedlam Theatre, Venue 49". Bedlam Fringe. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  242. ^ "The Improverts – Edinburgh Fringe 2010 – British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  243. ^ "The Improverts". The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  244. ^ "About". Edinburgh Studio Opera. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  245. ^ "About us". Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  246. ^ "About Footlights". The Edinburgh University Footlights. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  247. ^ "About Footlights". The Edinburgh University Footlights. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  248. ^ "InTheatre Productions". intheatreproductions.com. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  249. ^ "Theatre Paradok – About us". Edinburgh University Students' Association. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  250. ^ a b "About us". The Student. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  251. ^ Vavasour, Harry (13 October 2018). "Exclusive: Gordon Brown speaks to The Student". The Student. Edinburgh. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  252. ^ Curtis, Polly (24 May 2002). "Edinburgh Student newspaper folds". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  253. ^ "The Journal Served with Winding-up Petition". London: Winding Up Petition Solicitors. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  254. ^ "It's a breeze as Fresh Air is voted best student radio". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 24 November 2004. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  255. ^ "Television Society – About us". Edinburgh University Students' Association. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  256. ^ "Sports Clubs". Edinburgh University Sports Union. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  257. ^ "A renewed rivalry". The University of Edinburgh. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  258. ^ "World's oldest varsity match returns to Scotland". The Herald. Glasgow. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  259. ^ "Edinburgh Glasgow Boat Race". Walter Scott & Partners Limited. Archived from the original on 15 March 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  260. ^ "Edinburgh tops university medals table". The Daily Telegraph. London. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  261. ^ "About us". Edinburgh Global Partnerships. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  262. ^ "EUSA democracy abolished in massive coup". The Journal. Edinburgh. 1 April 2012. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  263. ^ 'LGBTQ+ Health and Wellbeing'. EUSA.
  264. ^ "Statement on Palestine". Edinburgh University Students' Association. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  265. ^ "Protest students occupy Edinburgh University hall". BBC News. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  266. ^ "Appleton Tower comes under occupation". The Student. Edinburgh. 17 December 2010. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  267. ^ "Students disrupt royal visit in protest over tuition fees". STV News. 26 September 2011. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  268. ^ "Edinburgh University student protesters occupy building over fossil fuel divestment". The Independent. London. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  269. ^ "Students vow to continue occupation over fossil fuels". Edinburgh Evening News. Edinburgh. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  270. ^ Learmonth, Andrew (22 May 2015). "Security guard charged after protest clash". The National. Glasgow. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  271. ^ "100 flats at £250 a month: Co-op housing project moves closer to goal". The Student. Edinburgh. 22 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  272. ^ "About us". Hearty Squirrel Food Cooperative. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  273. ^ "About us". SHRUB Coop. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  274. ^ "Scotland Co-op List". Students for Cooperation. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  275. ^ "Joseph Lister (1827–1912)". National Records of Scotland. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  276. ^ Bellhouse, D. R. (February 2004). "The Reverend Thomas Bayes, FRS: A Biography to Celebrate the Tercentenary of His Birth". Statistical Science. 19 (1). Institute of Mathematical Statistics: 3–43. Bibcode:2004StaSc..19....3B. doi:10.1214/088342304000000189. S2CID 106737201.
  277. ^ "Adam Smith, 1723–1790". The History of Economic Thought. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  278. ^ "Who was James Clerk Maxwell?". James Clerk Maxwell Foundation. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  279. ^ "Charles Darwin (1809–1882)". The University of Edinburgh. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  280. ^ Mann, Rosemary (7 June 2019). "Darwin in Edinburgh 1825–1827". National Museum of Scotland. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  281. ^ "Prof. Peter Guthrie Tait 1831–1901". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  282. ^ "James Hutton (1726–1797)". The University of Edinburgh. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  283. ^ "Richard Bright (b.September 1789 d.16 December 1858)". Royal College of Physicians Museum. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  284. ^ Sykes, A. H. (2006). "Edward Schafer (1850-1935) and artificial respiration". Journal of Medical Biography. 14 (3): 155–62. doi:10.1258/j.jmb.2006.05-86. PMID 16845462. S2CID 23147853.
  285. ^ Doyle, Derek (2006). "William Hewson (1739-74): The father of haematology". British Journal of Haematology. 133 (4): 375–381. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2006.06037.x. PMID 16643443. S2CID 35774229.
  286. ^ Sharma, O. P. (1983). "Robert Willan remembered". Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 9 (6): 971–976. doi:10.1016/s0190-9622(83)80098-x. PMID 6358286.
  287. ^ Deichmann, U. (2016). "Epigenetics: The origins and evolution of a fashionable topic". Developmental Biology. 416 (1): 249–254. doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2016.06.005. PMID 27291929.
  288. ^ "Colloid | Definition & Facts | Britannica".
  289. ^ "Notable alumni – Robert Brown". School of Biological Sciences. 13 August 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  290. ^ Doyle, W. P. "Joseph Black (1728–1799)". School of Chemistry. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  291. ^ "Magnesium - Element information, properties and uses | Periodic Table".
  292. ^ "James Young Simpson". The University of Edinburgh. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  293. ^ "Sir Kenneth Murray leaves millions in will". BBC News. London. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  294. ^ Webster, B.L.; Murdin, P. (1972). "P. Cygnus X-1—a Spectroscopic Binary with a Heavy Companion?". Nature. 235 (5332): 37–38. Bibcode:1972Natur.235...37W. doi:10.1038/235037a0. S2CID 4195462.
  295. ^ Gauntlett, Jerome (29 June 2016). "Thomas Kibble (1932–2016)". Nature. 534 (7609): 622. Bibcode:2016Natur.534..622G. doi:10.1038/534622a. PMID 27357788. S2CID 4401102. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  296. ^ Duff, M.J.; Stelle, K. S. (24 March 2021). "Sir Thomas Walter Bannerman Kibble. 23 December 1932–2 June 2016". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 70: 225–244. arXiv:2011.13257. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2020.0040. S2CID 227209669. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  297. ^ Wilkins, Maurice Hugh Frederick (1987). "John Turton Randall, 23 March 1905 - 16 June 1984". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 33: 491–535. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1987.0018. PMID 11621437. S2CID 45354172.
  298. ^ Wisniak, Jaime (July 2015). "Smithson Tennant". Educación Química. 26 (3): 250–259. doi:10.1016/j.eq.2015.05.009.
  299. ^ "Daniel Rutherford (3 November 1749 – 15 November 1819)". Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  300. ^ Doyle, W.P. "Thomas Charles Hope, MD, FRSE, FRS (1766-1844)". School of Chemistry. The University of Edinburgh.
  301. ^ "Winner of 2020 Being Edinburgh Award". The University of Edinburgh. 11 January 2021. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  302. ^ "Robert Stirling (1790-1878)". The University of Edinburgh. 29 June 2016.
  303. ^ Tietz, Tabea (23 March 2021). "John Randall and the Cavity Magnetron". SciHi Blog.
  304. ^ Campbell-Kelly, Martin (23 May 2010). "John Shepherd-Barron obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  305. ^ "The History of the Refrigerator".
  306. ^ Bock, Benedikt (18 August 2014). "Lecturers & Authors – John Scott Haldane". The Gifford Lectures. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  307. ^ "Gregory, James, 1753-1821 (Professor of medicine, University of Edinburgh) | University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections".
  308. ^ "Alexander Wood (1817–1884)". The University of Edinburgh. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  309. ^ "Alexander Wood (10 December 1817 – 26 February 1884)". Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  310. ^ "Our History – Sir David Brewster (1781–1868)". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  311. ^ MacPherson, Hamish (20 October 2019). "A tribute to Scottish inventor John Boyd Dunlop". The National. Glasgow. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  312. ^ "Alexander Graham Bell: Biography". Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  313. ^ "Sir James Dewar (1842–1923)". Kincardine Local History Group. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  314. ^ "Benjamin Rush". The University of Edinburgh. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  315. ^ "A Biography of James Wilson (1742–1798)". University of Groningen. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  316. ^ "John Witherspoon (1723–1794)". The University of Edinburgh. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  317. ^ "Ian Charleson (1949–1990)". The University of Edinburgh. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  318. ^ "Robert Adam". The University of Edinburgh. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  319. ^ "William Henry Playfair". The University of Edinburgh. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  320. ^ "Notable alumni – Piers Sellers". School of Biological Sciences. August 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  321. ^ "Home | Adrian Bird Lab". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  322. ^ Carter, Richard (15 July 2012). "Sir Richard Owen: the archetypal villain". The Friends of Charles Darwin. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  323. ^ "Autobiography of Ian Wilmut". The Shaw Prize Foundation. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  324. ^ "Kenneth E. Boulding, 1910–1993". The History of Economic Thought. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  325. ^ "Thomas Carlyle". The University of Edinburgh. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  326. ^ "Biographies of the Justices". The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  327. ^ "Edinburgh Law School alumni appointed to top positions in UK Supreme Court". Edinburgh Law School. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  328. ^ Atiyah, Michael (1 November 1976). "William Vallance Douglas Hodge, 17 June 1903 – 7 July 1975". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 22. The Royal Society: 169–192. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1976.0007. S2CID 72054846. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  329. ^ "Our History – Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746)". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  330. ^ "Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker (1873-1956)". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  331. ^ "Our History – Adam Ferguson (1723–1816)". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  332. ^ "David Hume (1711–1776)". The University of Edinburgh. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  333. ^ Pearce, J. M. (2004). "Thomas Addison (1793-1860)". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 97 (6): 297–300. doi:10.1177/014107680409700615. PMC 1079500. PMID 15173338.
  334. ^ Doyle, W. P. "William Cullen (1710–1790)". School of Chemistry. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  335. ^ Stone, M. J. (2005). "Thomas Hodgkin: medical immortal and uncompromising idealist". Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center). 18 (4): 368–375. doi:10.1080/08998280.2005.11928096. PMC 1255947. PMID 16252028.
  336. ^ "James Lind (1716 – 1794)". The University of Edinburgh. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  337. ^ Mitchell, Hilary (21 January 2019). "'A true inspiration': the extraordinary life of legendary Edinburgh pilot Eric 'Winkle' Brown". Edinburgh Live. Edinburgh. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  338. ^ "James Barry (1795–1865)". The University of Edinburgh. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  339. ^ "Joseph Bell". The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  340. ^ "Robert Liston". The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  341. ^ "Basant Kumar Misra, President NSI 2008" (PDF). Neurological Society of India. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  342. ^ "Sir Patrick Geddes". The University of Edinburgh. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  343. ^ "David Bloor". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  344. ^ "J M Barrie (1860–1937)". The University of Edinburgh. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  345. ^ "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle". The University of Edinburgh. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  346. ^ "Arthur Conan Doyle: Biography". The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  347. ^ "University to honour JK Rowling". The Irish Examiner. 14 February 2004. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  348. ^ "Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)". The University of Edinburgh. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  349. ^ "Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)". The University of Edinburgh. 31 August 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  350. ^ Bridges, Edward (1 November 1958). "John Anderson, Viscount Waverley, 1882–1958". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 4. The Royal Society: 306–325. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1958.0024. S2CID 71236411. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  351. ^ "Death of Lord Lansdowne". The New York Times. New York. 17 February 1863. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  352. ^ "Robin Cook (1946—2005) politician". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  353. ^ "Profile: Sir Malcolm Rifkind". BBC News. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  354. ^ "Eric Liddell (1902–1945)". The University of Edinburgh. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  355. ^ "Max Born". The University of Edinburgh. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  356. ^ "Award of Nobel Prize to Peter Higgs, 2013". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  357. ^ "Max Born – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  358. ^ "Peter Higgs – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  359. ^ "Sir J. Fraser Stoddart – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  360. ^ "Peter C. Doherty – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  361. ^ "James A. Mirrlees – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  362. ^ "Charles Glover Barkla – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  363. ^ "Peter Mitchell – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  364. ^ "Richard Henderson – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  365. ^ "Robert G. Edwards – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  366. ^ Haigh, Thomas. "Geoffrey E Hinton: Canada – 2018". Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  367. ^ Fourman, Michael. "Arthur John Robin Gorell: United Kingdom – 1991". Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  368. ^ "Leslie Gabriel Valiant: United States – 2010". Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  369. ^ Hitchin, Nigel (2 September 2020). "Sir Michael Atiyah OM. 22 April 1929 – 11 January 2019". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 69. The Royal Society: 9–35. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2020.0001. S2CID 221399691.
  370. ^ "Election of Gordon Brown as Rector, 1972". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  371. ^ McCracken, John (2017). "Hastings Kamuzu Banda: the Edinburgh Years". The Society of Malawi Journal. 70 (1). Society of Malawi – Historical and Scientific: 1–18. JSTOR 26382821. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  372. ^ "Hastings Banda". UncoverED. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  373. ^ Keatley, Patrick (23 November 1999). "Sir Robert Black – Tough Scot sorting out the end of Britain's empire". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  374. ^ "Thomas Brisbane (1773–1860)". The University of Edinburgh. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  375. ^ "The Rt Hon Gordon Brown". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  376. ^ Hoare, James E. (2004). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-5381-1975-4.
  377. ^ "Dr. John Crawfurd 1783–1868". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  378. ^ "Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (1st Earl of Minto) 1751–1814". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  379. ^ Hughes, Arnold; Perfect, David (2008). Historical Dictionary of The Gambia (PDF). The Scarecrow Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-8108-5825-1.
  380. ^ "Uncovering University of Edinburgh's black history". The University of Edinburgh. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  381. ^ Harris M. Lentz (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. The Routledge. p. 1975. ISBN 978-1-134-26497-1. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  382. ^ "Letters of William Shepherd Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil (1893–1961) to his brother, Dr. Donald John Morrison, and other items". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  383. ^ Harris M. Lentz (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. The Routledge. p. 1910. ISBN 978-1-134-26497-1. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  384. ^ "Julius Kambarage Nyerere". The University of Edinburgh. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  385. ^ "Julius Nyerere". UncoverED. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  386. ^ "1993". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  387. ^ Bloy, Marjie; Little, Tony; Parry, Jonathan. "Lord John Russell (Earl Russell), 1792–1878". The Liberal Democrat History Group. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  388. ^ "Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865)". The University of Edinburgh. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  389. ^ Farr, D.M.L. (21 February 2008). "Sir Charles Tupper". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  390. ^ "Yun Posun (1897–1990)". The University of Edinburgh. 5 December 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  391. ^ "5 Things You Didn't Know About Burke & Hare". Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  392. ^ "Filmed Here: Burke and Hare". Film Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  393. ^ "Mysteries of super villain's city past revealed". The Scotsman. 17 April 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  394. ^ "Fu Manchu in Edinburgh". BBC Radio 4 Extra. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  395. ^ "Journey to The Center Of The Earth (1959) filming location: Sir Oliver addresses the students". British Film Locations. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  396. ^ "Edinburgh on screen". 13 April 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  397. ^ "A Profile of Ducky Mallard of NCIS". Forensic Psychology Online. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  398. ^ "Filmed Here: One Day". Film Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  399. ^ "New Netflix series One Day spotted filming 'grad ball' at Edinburgh University". edinburghlive. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  400. ^ "Garrow's Law Film Locations in Edinburgh". Forever Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  401. ^ "Clique Moves to BBC One". Film Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  402. ^ "Edinburgh streets to feature in second series of BBC's Clique". Edinburgh Evening News. 9 November 2018. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  403. ^ Maishman, Elsa (20 September 2019). "Fast and Furious 9: Police called as drone used in filming crashes at University of Edinburgh set". Edinburgh Evening News. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2021.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]