Imperial College London

Imperial College London (Imperial) is a public research university located in London, England. Its origins trace back to Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural hub in South Kensington that would include museums, colleges, and the Royal Albert Hall. In 1907, several institutions—the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines, and the City and Guilds of London Institute merged to form the Imperial College of Science and Technology.

In 1988, Imperial merged with St Mary's Hospital Medical School, followed by a merger with Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, creating the Imperial College School of Medicine. The Imperial College Business School was established in 2003 and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. Formerly a constituent college of the University of London, Imperial became an independent university in 2007.

The university is organized into four faculties: Engineering, Medicine, Natural Sciences, and Business. Imperial encourages innovation and enterprise across all faculties by integrating business courses into science degrees and offering business students a scientific education. The main campus is located in South Kensington, with an additional campus in White City. The Faculty of Medicine also operates five teaching hospitals across London and is a founding institution of the Francis Crick Institute.

The earliest college that contributed to the formation of Imperial College was the Royal College of Chemistry, founded in 1845 with the support of Prince Albert and Parliament. In 1853, it merged with other institutions to form what became known as the Royal School of Mines. The medical school has its origins in several different schools across London, with the oldest being Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, established in 1823. This was followed by teaching at Westminster Hospital in 1834 and St Mary's Hospital in 1851.

In 1851, the Great Exhibition was organized by Henry Cole and Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, as an exhibition of culture and industry. The event was immensely popular and financially successful, with the proceeds designated to develop an area in South Kensington for cultural and scientific advancement. Within the next six years, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum had opened, followed by the establishment of new facilities for the Royal College of Chemistry in 1871, the Royal School of Mines in 1881, and the Natural History Museum.

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