| 1557 |
Will of Bishop Robert Reid.
|
| 1580 |
Bequest of Clement Litill's Library.
|
| 1582 |
Charter from James VI.
|
| 1583 |
Opening of the University
|
| 1620 |
Separation of posts of Principal and Professor of Divinity.
|
| 1626 |
William Drummond of Hawthornden donates books to Library.
|
| 1639 |
Bartilmo Somerville endows Chair of Divinity (first major private benefactor)
|
| 1665 |
Rectorship transferred to Lord Provost of Edinburgh
|
| 1670 |
Creation of Edinburgh Botanic Garden
|
| 1690 |
Purge of Episcopalian and Jacobite Staff.
|
| 1690 |
Gilbert Rule appointed Principal.
|
| 1703 |
William Carstares appointed Principal.
|
| 1704 |
Seizure of College Records by Town Council.
|
| 1707 |
Foundation of Faculty of Law.
|
| 1708 |
End of Regenting System.
|
| 1708 |
Foundation of Faculty of Arts.
|
| 1713 |
Foundation of Chair of Chemistry.
|
| 1726 |
Foundation of Faculty of Medicine.
|
| 1745 |
Classes suspended as the Jacobites march on city.
|
| 1745 |
David Hume turned down for Chair of Moral Philosophy.
|
| 1749 |
First American Graduate (John Moultrie).
|
| 1760 |
Foundation of Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres.
|
| 1760 |
Foundation of Trustees' Drawing Academy (forerunner of Edinburgh College of Art)
|
| 1762 |
William Robertson appointed Principal.
|
| 1787 |
Theft of College Mace, possibly by Deacon Brodie
|
| 1789 |
Laying of Foundation Stone of Old College.
|
| 1826 |
Visitation of the University by Royal Commission
|
| 1843 |
Resignation of Thomas Chalmers, Professor of Divinity.
|
| 1846 |
Foundation of New College.
|
| 1847 |
Free Churchman Charles MacDouall refused as Professor of Hebrew on religious grounds.
|
| 1847 |
James Young Simpson discovers anaesthetic use of chloroform in childbirth.
|
| 1848 |
Free Church of Scotland Normal and Sessional School opens (forerunner of Moray House).
|
| 1858 |
Universities (Scotland) Act.
|
| 1859 |
Layman Sir David Brewster appointed Principal.
|
| 1859 |
First Meeting of General Council.
|
| 1859 |
First Election of Rector by Student Body (Gladstone).
|
| 1859 |
First Meeting of University Court.
|
| 1859 |
Appointment of Curators of Patronage.
|
| 1859 |
Building of Reid Concert Hall.
|
| 1868 |
Foundation of Edinburgh Ladies Education Association.
|
| 1868 |
Foundation of Baxter Chair of Engineering.
|
| 1868 |
Lyon Playfair elected first University MP.
|
| 1878 |
David Laing bequests his manuscript collection to the University Library.
|
| 1884 |
Tercentenary Festival.
|
| 1884 |
Opening of New Medical School.
|
| 1884 |
First Students' Representative Council elected.
|
| 1887 |
Foundation of University Hall.
|
| 1887 |
First Publication of the 'Student'.
|
| 1889 |
Opening of University Union (for men)
|
| 1893 |
First female graduates.
|
| 1893 |
Foundation of Faculty of Science.
|
| 1894 |
Foundation of Faculty of Music.
|
| 1897 |
Opening of McEwan Hall.
|
| 1897 |
Opening of Masson Hall (women's hall of residence)
|
| 1901 |
Andrew Carnegie donates 10,000,000 dollars to the Universities of Scotland.
|
| 1901 |
Foundation of Sir William Fraser Chair of Scottish History and Palaeography.
|
| 1914-1918 |
Nearly 8,000 Edinburgh students or graduates serve in First World War.
|
| 1914 |
Lord Kitchener elected Rector.
|
| 1915 |
First Female Senior President of Students' Representative Council (Agnes Cunningham).
|
| 1916 |
Women finally admitted to Faculty of Medicine.
|
| 1920 |
Laying of foundation stone at Science Campus at King's Buildings.
|
| 1924 |
Student Eric Liddell wins 400 metres at Paris Olympics.
|
| 1924 |
Foundation of University of Edinburgh Graduates' Association.
|
| 1924 |
Percentage of women students reaches peace time peak of 31%.
|
| 1932 |
Merger of United Free Church College with Faculty of Divinity.
|
| 1932 |
First 'non-political' rectorial election.
|
| 1932 |
First Charities Week.
|
| 1936 |
Refugee Max Born appointed to Chair of Natural Philosophy.
|
| 1936 |
Sir Herbert Grierson elected Rector.
|
| 1941 |
Foundation of Polish School of Medicine.
|
| 1948 |
Edinburgh Dental School merges with Faculty of Medicine.
|
| 1948 |
Alastair Sim elected first celebrity Rector.
|
| 1951 |
Royal (Dick) Veterinary College integrated into University.
|
| 1951 |
Sir Alexander Fleming elected Rector.
|
| 1958 |
Appointment of first woman Professor (Elizabeth Wiskemann).
|
| 1963 |
Foundation of Faculty of Social Sciences.
|
| 1966 |
Construction of James Clerk Maxwell Building.
|
| 1967 |
Foundation of Chair of Computer Science.
|
| 1968 |
Malcolm Muggeridge resigns as Rector.
|
| 1972 |
Gordon Brown elected Rector.
|
| 1973 |
Foundation of Edinburgh University Students' Association.
|
| 1980 |
Brenda Moon appointed first woman University Librarian.
|
| 1988 |
Muriel Gray elected first woman Rector.
|
| 1996 |
Cloning of Dolly the Sheep at Roslin Institute.
|
| 1998 |
Merger with Moray House Institute of Education.
|
| 2002 |
Reconstitution of Faculties into Colleges.
|
| 2002 |
Opening of new Medical School at Little France.
|
| 2002 |
School of Informatics badly damaged by fire.
|
| 2011 |
Merger with Edinburgh College of Art.
|
| 2011 |
Opening of Easter Bush Veterinary Campus.
|
| 2013 |
Peter Higgs awarded Nobel Prize in Physics.
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