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King's College London (often abbreviated to KCL) in London is the largest College in the federal University of London, with some 19,500 registered students. King's College was founded in 1829, partly in reaction to the founding of University College London (UCL). UCL from its foundation admitted candidates without respect to religion and offered no religious instruction, so that some called it “the godless institution in Gower Street”. King's by contrast had strong Anglican connections in the beginning, andwas so named to indicate the patronage of King George IV; today, King's
staff and students are of all faiths and beliefs.
King's began on a site adjacent to Somerset House in the Strand, still in use and still organized around the original building; the university has spread to several other campuses as well, including the Guy's campus near London Bridge, the St. Thomas' campus facing the Houses of Parliament across the Thames, Waterloo campus across from the BFI London Imax and the Hampstead Halls campus, formerly the site of Westfield College , since merged with Queen Mary. The current institution is the product of the merger of King's with a number of other institutions over the years, including Queen Elizabeth College , Chelsea College , the Institute of Psychiatry , Guy's Hospital, and St Thomas' HospitalSt Thomas' Hospital has provided health care freely or under charitable auspices since the 12th Century. It is currently located in Lambeth, London but its original location was in Southwark. It was described as ancient in 1215 and was named after Thomas.
Well-known alumni of King's College include:
- Anita BrooknerAnita Brookner is an English novelist and art historian, born in London in 1928. In 1967 she became the first woman to hold the Slade professorship at Cambridge University. Since 1977, she has been associated with the Courtauld Institute of Art. However,
- Arthur C. Clarkegrand master of science fiction. Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born December 16, 1917) is an author and inventor, probably most famous for his science fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey''. It is loosely inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel , but it
- John Eliot GardinerJohn Eliot Gardiner (born April 20, 1943, Fontmell, Dorset, England) is a prominent British conductor famous for his performances of Baroque music on early instruments. Gardiner took up the baton at age fifteen. As an undergraduate at Cambridge University
- Peter HiggsPeter Ware Higgs (born May 29, 1929), FRSE, FRS, until recently held a personal chair in theoretical physics at the University of Edinburgh and is now an emeritus professor. Higgs is best known for his 1960s proposal of broken symmetry in electroweak theo
- Derek JarmanDerek Jarman ( January 31 1942- February 19 1994) was a British film director, artist, and writer. Jarman's first films were experimental super 8mm shorts, a form he never entirely abandoned, and later developed further (in his films Imagining October ( 1
- B. S. JohnsonJohnson 1933 1973) was an English experimental novelist and film-maker. Johnson was born into a working class family, left school at sixteen and began work as an accountant. However, he taught himself Latin in the evenings, and with this knowledge, manage
- Hanif Kureishi
- Michael NymanMichael Nyman (born March 23, 1944) is a British minimalist composer, pianist, librettist and musicologist, many of whose works are associated with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway. Nyman's popularity increased significantly after he wrote the soundtrack to
- James Clerk Maxwell
- Rosalind Franklin
- Joseph Lister
- Thomas Hardy
- Michael Collins
- John Keats
- John Deacon
- David Owen
- Quentin Crisp
Nobel Prize Winners
Florence Nightingale's original training school for nurses was at St Thomas' Hospital and King's College Hospital. Perhaps the most famous scholarly research performed at King's was the work by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins that was essential to the discovery by James D. Watson and Francis Crick of the structure of DNA. King's is also known for its top ranked War Studies department that attracts students with both a civilian and military background. It is supported by facilities such as the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives and the King's Centre for Military Health.
King's College London Students' Union (KCLSU) is the second oldest in London, founded just after University College London Union, and provides an enormous range of activities and services: over 50 sports clubs, 60 societies, a wide range of volunteering opportunities, 4 bars, 2 nightclubs, shops, eating places and even a Gym. Recently, a third site was opened at the Waterloo campus which finally completes development of services across the three key KCL sites. A former President of KCLSU, Sir Ivison Macadam went on to be elected as the first President of the NUS and the Union has played an active role there and in the University of London Union ever since.
