Royal School of Mines
Founded in 1851 as the Government School of Mines and Science Applied to the Arts and renamed the Royal School of Mines in 1863 , the school was a government training institution for mining studies in London . In 1907 she became part of Imperial College London and now houses the departments of geosciences and engineering sciences ( Earth Science and Engineering ) and material science ( material ) of Imperial College.
history
The School of Mining had its origins in the geological collection of Henry Thomas de la Bèche , founder of the Ordnance Geological Survey , who exhibited his collection in two houses on Craigs Court in the Charing Cross district of London . A little later a chemical laboratory was added and, at the instigation of de la Bèche, a building for the Museum of Practical Geology was built in London's Jermyn Street , which was opened in 1851 by Prince Albert .
At that time, Michael Faraday and Lyon Playfair , who were investigating conditions in the mines for the British government , came to the conclusion that scientific and technical training for miners was essential in order to increase safety and productivity in the British mines. Therefore, the Government School of Mines and Science Applied to the Arts was founded at the Museum of Practical Geology in 1851 . De la Bèche became president of the school. Playfair taught chemistry, Edward Forbes natural history, Robert Hunt (1807-1887) mechanical sciences, and Andrew Crombie Ramsay geology. In the first year only seven students were enrolled.
In 1853, the Royal College of Chemistry , which had run into financial difficulties, was taken over and the school briefly renamed The Metropolitan School of Science applied to Mining and the Arts . Thomas Henry Huxley succeeded Forbes in late July 1854 and taught at the school until his retirement in 1885. In 1855, Roderick Murchison succeeded the late de la Bèche as president of the school. Richard Owen held courses here on fossils from 1857 to 1861 . In 1863 the school was renamed The Royal School of Mines .
The school developed into a valued facility and soon reached the limits of its capabilities. The chemists William Henry Perkin and Henry Edward Armstrong , trained by August Wilhelm von Hofmann , had to carry out their experiments together with the students in two small laboratories of the Royal College of Chemistry on Oxford Street . The physicists Robert Hunt, John Tyndall (professor of physics from 1859 to 1868) and George Gabriel Stokes , who teach at the school, lacked any opportunities to train the students on the basis of practical experiments. In 1868 the British Parliament formed a commission under the leadership of Bernhard Samuelson (1820-1905) to investigate whether the Royal School of Mines could be converted into a technical school. In July 1869, Samuelson urged to examine whether the Royal School of Mines , the Royal College of Chemistry and the Royal School of Naval Architecture could be merged at a common location and referred to the new buildings in " Albertopolis " ( South Kensington ). As a result of the reports Samuelsons under William Edward Forster (1818-1886) the Commission Scientific Instruction and Advancement of Science was installed, which was headed by William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire (1808-1891) and who also belonged to Huxley. In the first of its eight reports, in March 1871, the commission recommended the merger of the three state scientific training centers and the move to a building on Exhibition Road .
In July 1872 the chemistry, physics and biology departments moved to the new building in South Kensington . The Mining, Mineralogy , Metallurgy, and Paleontology departments remained on Jeremyn Street . Following the example of the French École normal , the school in South Kensington was called The Normal School of Science from 1884 . The Royal School of Mines remained independent. After the death of Warington Wilkinson Smyth (1817-1890), the departments that remained in Jeremyn Street moved to Exhibition Road . In 1890 the name was changed again to Royal College of Science and Royal School of Mines .
In 1907 the Royal College of Science and Royal School of Mines and City & Guilds College merged to form Imperial College London .
Reception in literature
In 1884 Herbert George Wells took courses given by Thomas Henry Huxley at The Normal School of Science . His impressions formed the basis for his novel Love and Mr Lewisham, published in 1899. It was Wells' first novel that was not about science fiction .
proof
literature
- Henry Thomas de la Bèche: Inaugural Discourse . In: Records of the School of Mines and of Science applied to the Arts . Volume 1, Part 1, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London 1852; on-line
- Robert Bud, Gerrylynn K. Roberts: Science versus practice: chemistry in Victorian Britain . Manchester University Press ND, 1984, ISBN 0-7190-1070-5
- NB Harte: The University of London, 1836-1986: An illustrated history . Continuum International Publishing Group, 1986, ISBN 0-485-12052-6
- Hermione Hobhouse: The Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition: Art, science, and productive industry: A history of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 . Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004, ISBN 0-8264-7841-7 , p. 265
- Dorothy Mabel Turner: History of science teaching in England . Ayer Publishing, 1981, ISBN 0-405-13955-1 , pp. 77-82
Individual evidence
- ^ Dorothy Mabel Turner: p. 78
- ↑ Robert Bud, Gerrylynn K. Roberts: S. 130
- ↑ Robert Bud, Gerrylynn K. Roberts: S. 137
- ↑ Hermione Hobhouse: p. 196
- ↑ Robert Bud, Gerrylynn K. Roberts: S. 147
- ↑ Robert Bud, Gerrylynn K. Roberts: S. 153
- ^ Dorothy Mabel Turner: p. 80
- ↑ Robert Bud, Gerrylynn K. Roberts: S. 154
- ^ Dorothy Mabel Turner: p. 81
further reading
- Margaret Reeks: History of the Royal School of Mines . London 1920
