Scarf colours: blue, with two equally-spaced narrow sets of three adjacent red, Cambridge blue and yellow stripes, with the red stripes closest to the edge of the scarf, and the yellow stripes closest to the centre
Darwin College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded on 28 July 1964, Darwin was Cambridge University's first graduate-only college, and also the first to admit both men and women. The college is named after one of the university's most famous families and alumni, that of Charles Darwin. The Darwin family previously owned some of the land, Newnham Grange, on which the college now stands.
The college has between 650 and 800 students, mostly studying for PhD or MPhil degrees with strengths in the sciences, humanities, and law. About half the students come from outside the United Kingdom, representing 80 nationalities as of 2016. Darwin is the largest graduate college of Cambridge. Darwin's sister college at Oxford University is Wolfson College.
Sir Ian Wilmut, the leader of the research group that in 1996 first cloned a mammal from an adult somatic cell (a Finnish Dorset lamb named Dolly), is also an alumnus of the college. Honorary fellows include Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, and the scientist Martin Rees. Notable students and fellows of Darwin College include British politician Oliver Letwin, Nobel Prize winner Richard Henderson and four Nobel Laureates.[7] The college has 23 Fellows of the Royal Society among its current, emeritus, and honorary fellows including Dame Jane Francis.[8]
History
Main BuildingDarwin College Library from the millpondSilver Street
A significant increase in the number of postgraduate students at Cambridge University in the post-war period led to a growing realisation that a graduate college was becoming a necessity. In 1963, three of the university's older colleges – Trinity College, St John's College, and Gonville and Caius College – announced their intention to jointly form a new, wholly graduate college. The college was established in 1964, located on the bank of the River Cam, opposite Queens' College. On 29 January 1965, the Privy Council gave formal approval to the college as an Approved Foundation. It received its Royal Charter as an independent college within the university in 1976.
The college is named after the Darwin family, Charles Darwin's second son, George Darwin, having owned some of the property which the college now occupies. He bought Newnham Grange, the oldest part of the college, in 1885, together with the adjacent building known as The Old Granary, and Small Island. (Newnham Grange was originally built in 1793 for the family of Patrick Beales, a local corn and coal merchant. It was extensively remodelled by George Darwin.)
Following the death of George's son, Sir Charles Galton Darwin, in 1962, those concerned with the foundation of the new college learned that the property was to become available. Katherine, Lady Darwin, and her family were very receptive to the idea of their home becoming the nucleus of a new college, and to the suggestion that it should bear the family's name. Family portraits of the Darwin family are on loan to the college from the Darwin Heirloom Trust and can be found on the walls of several of the college's main rooms. In the book Period Piece: A Cambridge Childhood, the granddaughter of Charles Darwin, Gwen Raverat describes how she grew up at Newnham Grange.[9][citation needed]
A commemorative book entitled Darwin College: A 50th Anniversary Portrait was commissioned and published by the college in 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the college in 1964.[10]
Buildings
Darwin College is known for its distinctive Georgian and Victorian architecture, gardens, and college site which is integrated into the nearby River Cam.
In 1966 the college acquired the Hermitage (a house built in the nineteenth century on the west side of Newnham Grange) from St John's College. Work to convert and extend the college's buildings was funded by the founding colleges and through substantial donations from the Rayne Foundation established by Sir Max Rayne, a Jewish businessman and philanthropist.
In 1994 Darwin College completed construction of a new library and study centre along the side of The Old Granary. The centre is built on a narrow strip of land alongside the millpond in Cambridge, and uses a structure of green oak and lime mortar brickwork. The building uses high-level automatically opening windows and a chimney to control natural ventilation.
In 2004, the college acquired the Malting House to accommodate 12 students. The Malting House is Grade II listed and its name reflects the original purpose of the building. The building was the home of the Malting House School, which experimented with radical ideas in education in the 1920s.
In 2010 the college acquired No 4 Newnham Terrace, the former Rectory for the Church of St Mary the Less, Cambridge (Little St Mary's) thereby finally establishing an entire boundary for the college from Queen's Bridge to Newnham Road and to the River Granta. The long boundary returns to Queen's Bridge and is formed by the two islands in the middle of the river.
Academic profile
Darwin College has particular strengths across a range of subjects and is particularly strong in the sciences, law, and humanities with the majority of the postgraduate students graduating with PhDs and MPhils in these academic subjects.
As a postgraduate college, Darwin College is not ranked in the Tompkins Table ranking of Cambridge colleges that provide undergraduate studies.
Student life
Darwin College Dining Hall, Christmas 2011Newnham Grange
The college organises the annual prestigious Darwin Lecture Series, eight talks over eight weeks structured around a single theme (such as 'Power') examined from very different perspectives (scientific, humanities, arts), given by eminent speakers who are leading international authorities in their fields. The lectures have been hosted for over twenty-five years and form one of the key events in the Cambridge calendar. Most of the series of lectures have been published as books and the more recent series are also available as videos for free live-streaming and download.[11] Past speakers at the Darwin Lecture Series have included Sir Walter Bodmer, Rose George, Andrew Fabian, and historian David Olusoga. The inaugural lecture was given by Karl Popper.[12]
The college has a 24-hour library and study centre overlooking the River Cam and provides extensive punting for its students.
In sports, Darwin College Boat Club is a popular student society at Darwin College, as well as Darwin College Football Club who play in the long established Cambridge University Association Football League (CUAFL), representing the only graduate college within CUAFL. The club plays throughout the year in and out of term.
The college has regular formal dinners with students and fellows and also holds annual May Balls during Cambridge's May Week. In 2023, Darwin College became the first University of Cambridge college to have a fully plant-based May Ball.[13][14]
Every Darwinian is automatically a member of the Darwin College Student Association (DCSA). The DCSA committee comprises 20 students, organising events and parties, supporting societies, and helping students make the most of their time in Cambridge.[15]
Darwin College is associated with a number of distinguished alumni including former students, fellows of the college and past masters. Darwinians have achieved great success in a wide variety of careers including as scientists, lawyers, politicians, academics, civil servants, diplomats, and representatives of international organisations.
Elizabeth Blackburn, the 2009 Nobel laureate in medicine, studied for her PhD at Darwin. Eric Maskin, the 2007 Nobel laureate in economics, was a visiting student in 1975–76.
Paul Kalanithi, the Pulitzer Prize nominated Stanford neurosurgeon and author of the New York Times Best Seller 'When Breath Becomes Air', was an MPhil student at Darwin.[17]
The philosopher Huw Price, current Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge, studied for his PhD in philosophy at Darwin under the philosopher Hugh Mellor, an erstwhile fellow of the college. The philosopher Nigel Warburton also studied for his PhD at Darwin. British nutritionist Professor Ann Prentice is also an alumnus of the university.
Three current or former masters of Cambridge colleges are Darwin alumnae: Professor Mary Fowler (Darwin), Nicola Padfield (Fitzwilliam), and Professor Dame Jean Thomas (St. Catharine's).
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as God's House. In 1505, the college was granted a new royal charter, was given a substantial endowment by Lady Margaret Beaufort, and changed its name to Christ's College, becoming the twelfth of the Cambridge colleges to be founded in its current form. Alumni of the college include some of Cambridge University's most famous members, including Charles Darwin and John Milton.
Max Ferdinand Perutz was an Austrian-born British molecular biologist, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with John Kendrew, for their studies of the structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin. He went on to win the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1971 and the Copley Medal in 1979. At Cambridge he founded and chaired (1962–79) The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), fourteen of whose scientists have won Nobel Prizes.
Amartya Kumar Sen is an Indian economist and philosopher, who has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States since 1972. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economic and social justice, economic theories of famines, decision theory, development economics, public health, and measures of well-being of countries.
Antony Hewish was a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for his role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1969.
St Edmund's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. Founded in 1896, it is the second-oldest of the four Cambridge colleges oriented to mature students, which accept only students reading for postgraduate degrees or for undergraduate degrees if aged 21 years or older.
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. Founded in 1966 by Clare College, Clare Hall is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students alongside postdoctoral researchers and fellows. It was established to serve as an Institute of Advanced Studies and has slowly grown and developed into a full constituent college.
Sir James Alexander Mirrlees was a British economist and winner of the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was knighted in the 1997 Birthday Honours.
Newnham is a suburb of the city of Cambridge in England. Historically, the name refers to a hamlet centred on a mill on the River Cam, a short distance to the southwest of the city centre. The modern council ward of Newnham covers much of the west of the city. Several Cambridge University colleges are situated in this ward, including Newnham, Wolfson, Robinson, Selwyn and Darwin. In modern times Newnham has become one of the most affluent areas of Cambridge and sometimes features in national quality of life surveys.
The Ascension Parish Burial Ground, formerly known as the burial ground for the parish of St Giles and St Peter's, is a cemetery off Huntingdon Road in Cambridge, England. Many notable University of Cambridge academics are buried there, including three Nobel Prize winners.
The Cambridge Philosophical Society (CPS) is a scientific society at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1819. The name derives from the medieval use of the word philosophy to denote any research undertaken outside the fields of law, theology and medicine. The society was granted a royal charter by King William IV in 1832. The society is governed by an elected council of senior academics, which is chaired by the Society's President, according to a set of statutes.
Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta is an Indian-British economist who is Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.
Cambridge Judge Business School is the business school of the University of Cambridge. The School is a provider of management education. It is named after Sir Paul Judge, a founding benefactor of the school.
Eric Stark Maskin is an American economist and mathematician. He was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory". He is the Adams University Professor and Professor of Economics and Mathematics at Harvard University.
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes from the name of its chapel, Jesus Chapel.
Newnham Grange is a Grade II listed house on Silver Street, Cambridge, next to the River Cam and The Backs. Since 1962 it has been part of Darwin College, Cambridge.
The Faculty of Economics is one of the constituent departments of the University of Cambridge. It is composed of five research groups, in macroeconomics, microeconomic theory, economic history, econometrics, and empirical microeconomics. It is located in the Sidgwick Site in Cambridge, has been host to many distinguished economists, and is regarded as the birthplace of macroeconomics. 19 students or members of the faculty have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The Department of Economics is an academic department of the University of Oxford within the Social Sciences Division. Relatively recently founded in 1999, the department is located in the Norman Foster-designed Manor Road Building.
The George Gamow Memorial Lectures are an annual series of lectures at the University of Colorado Boulder, named in honor of the physicist and science popularizer George Gamow, author of such popular science works as One Two Three... Infinity and the Mr Tompkins series.
↑ Darwin College, Cambridge (20 November 2002). "Statutes"(PDF). darwin.cam.ac.uk. Archived(PDF) from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
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