Imperial College London: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Imperial College London, is the new official name of what used to be called Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. Indeed the college actively discourages use of its old name and abbreviations such as IC preferring simply Imperial. It is a member of the University of London, and as its former name suggests specialises in scientific subjects.

It is often seen to enjoy a similar reputation in the United Kingdom as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology enjoys in the United States. Indeed to become more academically rounded, the (now failed) merger with the University College, London was proposed. Imperial is now establishing its own business school, the Gary Tanaka Business School. Gary Tanaka is one of Imperial's alumni and he made a significant contribution to the college, from which formed this new business school. The Tanaka Business School was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004. The donation also contributed to the construction of an official and imposing "Main Entrance" for the College.

The main campus of the college is situated near the Albert Hall on the boundary of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The area is dense with institutions of learning: the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal College of Music and the Royal College of Art are all nearby (see Albertopolis). There are two other major campuses - at Silwood Park (near Ascot in Berkshire) and at Wye (near Ashford in Kent). There are various other small medical campuses dotted around Greater London.

Imperial College was founded in 1907, upon the merger of the City and Guilds College, the Royal School of Mines and the Royal College of Science, although these entities continued as Constituent Colleges. It was granted a Royal Charter in July 1907. The expansion of the South Kensington campus in the 1960s absorbed the site of the former Imperial Institute, designed by Thomas Colcutt, of which only the 85 metre high Queen's Tower remains amongst the more modern buildings.

In later years St. Mary's Hospital Medical school (1988), the National Heart and Lung institute (1995), Charing Cross and Westminster schools (1997) merged into the Imperial College School of Medicine, the fourth Constituent College. In 1997, the size of the Medical School was increased with the merger of Royal Postgraduate Medical School, and the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In 2000, a merger with the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology expanded it even further.

Also in 2000, Imperial College merged with Wye College, which at that time had a much lesser reputation then Imperial. A number of voices have opined that the merger may have been due to Imperial's wish to obtain the significant amount of land owned by Wye College rather than for academic reasons; similarly there have been suggestions that Wye College accepted the merger because it was in financial diffculties. Neither of these rumours can be confirmed.

In 2002, the constituent colleges were finally abolished in favour of a new faculty structure.

In October 2002, Imperial College and University College London (UCL) announced their intention to merge, however after protests by UCL staff, the merger was called off in November 2002.

Periodically rumours surface about a possible merger with the London School of Economics. Whilst the two institutions have often conducted joint ventures, there has been no significant progress toward a merger.

Imperial is consistently ranked in the top four in the country for academic prowess by newspaper league tables. On occasion, Imperial has come second in these tables and has pushed Oxford University into third place.

The college is a member of the Russell Group of Universities, and is one of the four members of the IDEA League.

Student Alumni:

• Rajiv Gandhi (Indian Prime minister)
• H. G. Wells (Science fiction author)
• Simon Singh (Popular science author)
• Brian May (Member of Queen)
• W. H. Perkin (Discoverer of Aniline dyes)
• Trevor Phillips (journalist and politician)
• Branislav Ivkovic (politician)

Staff alumni:

• Sir Alexander Fleming (Nobel laureate and co-discoverer of penicillin)
• Geoffrey Wilkinson (Nobel laureate, Chemistry)
• Dennis Gabor (Nobel laureate, Physics)
• Derek Barton (Nobel laureate, Chemistry)
• Baron Patrick Blackett (Nobel laureate, Physics)
• Abdus Salam (Nobel laureate, Physics)
• Sir George Paget Thomson (Nobel laureate, Physics)