Editing Imperial College London (section)

===20th century===
At the start of the 20th century, there was a concern that Great Britain was falling behind Germany in scientific and technical education. A departmental committee was set up at the [[Ministry of Education (United Kingdom)|Board of Education]] in 1904, to look into the future of the Royal College of Science. A report released in 1906 called for the establishment of an institution unifying the Royal College of Science and the Royal School of Mines, as well as – if an agreement could be reached with the City and Guilds of London Institute – its Central Technical College.<ref name="bh">{{cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol38/pp233-247 |pages=233–247 |title=Imperial College – Survey of London: Volume 38, South Kensington Museums Area |date=1975 |publisher=London County Council |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=9 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609032825/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol38/pp233-247 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=46MOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA16 |pages=16–17 |title=The Report of the Board of Education to the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council for the Year 1905–1906 |date=1906 |publisher=HMSO |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726152512/https://books.google.com/books?id=46MOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA16#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> 

On 8 July 1907, [[Edward VII]] granted a [[Royal Charter]] establishing the Imperial College of Science and Technology. This incorporated the Royal School of Mines and the Royal College of Science. It also made provisions for the City and Guilds College to join once conditions regarding its governance were met, as well as for Imperial to become a college of the [[University of London]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |issue=1959 |volume=76 |url=https://archive.org/details/paper-doi-10_1038_076056a0 |pages=56–57 |date=16 May 1907 |title=Imperial College of Science and Technology |doi=10.1038/076056a0 |bibcode=1907Natur..76...56. |doi-access=free }}</ref> The college joined the University of London on 22 July 1908, with the City and Guilds College joining in 1910.<ref name="architecture-2012" /><ref name="UoLHistRec">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyPiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA85 |title=University of London, the Historical Record |date=1912 |publisher=University of London Press |page=85 |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726152513/https://books.google.com/books?id=vyPiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA85#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The main campus of Imperial College was constructed beside the buildings of the [[Imperial Institute]], the new building for the Royal College of Science having opened across from it in 1906, and the foundation stone for the Royal School of Mines building being laid by King [[Edward VII]] in July 1909.<ref name="bh" />

As students at Imperial had to study separately for London degrees, in January 1919, students and alumni voted for a petition to make Imperial a university with its own degree awarding powers, independent of the University of London.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1643261/page/n1 |title=The London Imperial College of Science and Technology |pages=209–210 |date=28 February 1919 |volume=XLIX |issue=1261 |bibcode=1919Sci....49..209. |doi=10.1126/science.49.1261.209 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |issue=2632 |volume=105 |url=https://archive.org/details/paper-doi-10_1038_105173a0/page/n1 |pages=173–175 |date=16 May 1907 |title=The Imperial College of Science and Technology |doi=10.1038/105173a0 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In response, the University of London changed its regulations in 1925 so that the courses taught only at Imperial would be examined by the university, enabling students to gain a Bachelor of Science.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/timeline/1920.shtml#college |title=Imperial College 1920–1929 |publisher=Imperial College |access-date=21 January 2019 |archive-date=29 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129062150/http://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/timeline/1920.shtml#college |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 1945, [[George VI]] and [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]] visited Imperial to commemorate the centenary of the Royal College of Chemistry, which was the oldest of the institutions that united to form Imperial College. "Commemoration Day", named after this visit, is held every October as the university's main graduation ceremony.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/timeline/1940.shtml#college |title=Imperial College 1940–1949 |publisher=Imperial College |access-date=21 January 2019 |archive-date=14 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114130821/http://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/timeline/1940.shtml#college |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/188666/imperial-celebrates-newest-graduates-commemoration-day/ |title=Imperial celebrates its newest graduates at Commemoration Day 2018 |date=17 October 2018 |publisher=Imperial College |access-date=21 January 2019 |archive-date=22 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122044448/https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/188666/imperial-celebrates-newest-graduates-commemoration-day/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The college also acquired a [[Biological station|biology field station]] at [[Silwood Park]] near [[Ascot, Berkshire]] in 1947<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BpqDQAAQBAJ&q=silwood+park+1947&pg=PA760 |title=The History of Imperial College London, 1907–2007: Higher Education and Research in Science, Technology, and Medicine |last=Gay |first=Hannah |date=2007 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=9781860947087 |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726152708/https://books.google.com/books?id=2BpqDQAAQBAJ&q=silwood+park+1947&pg=PA760#v=snippet&q=silwood%20park%201947&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Imperial College Royal School of Mines.jpg|thumb|left|[[Royal School of Mines]]]]
Following [[World War II]], there was again concern that Britain was falling behind in science – this time to the United States. The Percy Report of 1945 and Barlow Committee in 1946 called for a "British [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]"-equivalent, backed by influential scientists as politicians of the time, including [[Lord Cherwell]], Sir [[Lawrence Bragg]] and Sir [[Edward Victor Appleton|Edward Appleton]].<ref name="bocock">{{cite journal |author=Jean Bocock |author2=Lewis Baston |author3=Peter Scott |author4=David Smith |year=2003 |title=American influence on British higher education: science, technology, and the problem of university expansion, 1945–1963 |journal=Minerva |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=327–346 |doi=10.1023/B:MINE.0000005154.25610.b2 |jstor=41821255 |s2cid=143347639 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCRFBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 |title=Making Policy in British Higher Education 1945-2011 |author=Michael Shattock |date=1 October 2012 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education (UK) |isbn=9780335241873 |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726152515/https://books.google.com/books?id=qCRFBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[University Grants Committee (United Kingdom)|University Grants Committee]] strongly opposed however,<ref name="bocock" /> and so a compromise was reached in 1953, where Imperial would remain within the university, but double in size over the next ten years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1952-06-11/debates/ffbd1622-6f13-4927-9e07-7dec170ee574/HigherTechnologicalEducation(GovernmentPolicy) |title=Higher Technological Education (Government Policy) |date=11 June 1952 |work=Hansard |access-date=22 January 2019 |archive-date=23 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123223748/https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1952-06-11/debates/ffbd1622-6f13-4927-9e07-7dec170ee574/HigherTechnologicalEducation(GovernmentPolicy) |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1953-01-29/debates/efdd76ab-4f52-47cc-b094-66f297bb6980/ImperialCollegeOfScienceAndTechnology(Expansion) |title=Imperial College of Science And Technology (Expansion) |author=John Boyd-Carpenter |date=29 January 1953 |work=Hansard |author-link=John Boyd-Carpenter |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=9 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609094017/https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1953-01-29/debates/efdd76ab-4f52-47cc-b094-66f297bb6980/ImperialCollegeOfScienceAndTechnology(Expansion) |url-status=live }}</ref> The expansion led to a number of new buildings being erected. These included the Hill building in 1957 and the Physics building in 1960, and the completion of the East Quadrangle, built in four stages between 1959 and 1965. The building work also meant the demolition of the City and Guilds College building in 1962–63, and the Imperial Institute's building by 1967.<ref name="VCH">{{cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol1/pp345-359#h3-0004 |pages=345–359 |title=The Imperial College of Science and Technology |year=1969 |publisher=[[Victoria County History]] |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=19 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419073934/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol1/pp345-359#h3-0004 |url-status=live }}</ref> Opposition from the [[Royal Fine Arts Commission]] and others meant that [[Queen's Tower, London|Queen's Tower]] was retained, with work carried out between 1966 and 1968 to make it free standing.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Queen's Tower |publisher=Imperial College |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/about/history/queens-tower/ |access-date=29 January 2019 |archive-date=23 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223175214/https://www.imperial.ac.uk/about/history/queens-tower/ |url-status=live }}</ref> New laboratories for biochemistry, established with the support of a £350,000 grant from the [[Wolfson Foundation]], were opened by the [[Elizabeth II|Queen]] in 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wolfson.org.uk/media/2411/wf_sixty-years-of-philanthropy.pdf |pages=29, 57 |title=The Wolfson Foundation 1955–2015: Sixty Years of Philanthropy |publisher=The Wolfson Foundation |date=2015 |access-date=17 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202001135/http://www.wolfson.org.uk/media/2411/wf_sixty-years-of-philanthropy.pdf |archive-date=2 February 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="1960s">{{Cite web |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/timeline/1960.shtml |title=Imperial College – Centenary website – Timeline – 1960–1969 |website=imperial.ac.uk |access-date=19 December 2016 |archive-date=4 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204190205/http://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/timeline/1960.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1988, Imperial merged with [[St Mary's Hospital Medical School]] under the Imperial College Act 1988. Amendments to the [[royal charter]] changed the formal name of the institution to ''The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine'' and made St Mary's a constituent college.<ref name="charternote">{{cite web |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-support-services/secretariat/public/college-governance/charters-statutes-ordinances-regulations/charters-and-statutes/CHARTER---July-2007--(Rev--Nov-2014).pdf |publisher=Imperial College |title=Charter and Statutes |at=Explanatory note |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-date=13 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113034447/https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-support-services/secretariat/public/college-governance/charters-statutes-ordinances-regulations/charters-and-statutes/CHARTER---July-2007--(Rev--Nov-2014).pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This was followed by mergers with the [[National Heart and Lung Institute]] in 1995 and the [[Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School]], [[Royal Postgraduate Medical School]] and the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1997, with the [[Imperial College Act 1997]] formally establishing the Imperial College School of Medicine.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/publications/reporterarchive/0048/news01.htm |title=WEST LONDON MEDICINE – PAST AND FUTURE |website=Imperial College London |access-date=24 June 2018 |archive-date=25 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625022000/https://www.imperial.ac.uk/publications/reporterarchive/0048/news01.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>