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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.
1620	Creation of post of Rector.
1620	Foundation of Chair of Mathematics
1620	Foundation of Chair of Metaphysics.
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.
1701	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.
1848	Free Church of Scotland Normal and Sessional School opens (forerunner of Moray House).
1847	Free Churchman Charles MacDouall refused as Professor of Hebrew on religious grounds.
1847	James Young Simpson discovers anaesthetic use of chloroform in childbirth.
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) from:1893 till:1894
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, 1941.
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.
1963	Foundation of Faculty of Social Sciences.
1966	Appointment of first woman Professor (Mary Pickford).
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.