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href="/about/privacy-information/">Privacy and information governance</a></li> <li><a href="/about/teaching-and-learning-excellence/">Teaching and learning excellence</a></li> <li><a href="/about/conflict-support/">Support for conflict and humanitarian disasters</a></li> <li><a href="/about/bicentenary/">Celebrating our bicentenary</a></li> <li><a href="/about/rankings/">Rankings</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </nav>  </div>   <div class="oneColLayoutContainer">  <div class="mainContentContainer" data-swiftype-name="body" data-swiftype-type="text" id="content" role="main"> <nav class="on-this-page" data-menutype="On this page" aria-label="Page menu"> <h2>On this page:</h2> <ul class="reset-bullets"> <li><a href="/about/our-story/#d.en.965427">Our story</a></li> <li><a href="/about/our-story/#d.en.965522">A history of impact</a></li> <li><a href="/about/our-story/#d.en.965582">Celebrating our bicentenary</a></li> </ul> </nav> <span id="d.en.965427"></span> <h1>Our story</h1> <p class="subHeading">Our story begins at the height of the Industrial Revolution. The city we call our home was at the epicentre of change as the modern world began to emerge and a new idea of education arose for the first time in history.</p> <h3 class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW42646118 BCX8">Industrial beginnings  </h3> <p class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW42646118 BCX8">Founded in 1824, the Manchester Mechanics’ Institution was formed as part of a national movement for the education of working men. The pressure for technical education increased in the later decades of the century and in 1883 John Henry Reynolds converted the Institute into the Manchester Technical School – successfully creating a programme of classes that served the industrial needs of the Manchester region.</p> <div class="twelvecol imageFloat floatRight"> <figure class="noIndent"> <img class="lazy" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAPT09AAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" data-original="/about/our-story/newmechanics_M64352-(2)-(1).jpg" width="768" height="564" alt="Manchester Mechanics' Institute" /> <noscript><img src="/about/our-story/newmechanics_M64352-(2)-(1).jpg" width="768" height="564" alt="Manchester Mechanics' Institute" /></noscript> <figcaption>Manchester Mechanics' Institute</figcaption> </figure> </div> <span id="d.en.965506"></span> <p>The School went through several name changes in the decades that followed before an agreement was reached in 1905 with the newly independent Victoria University of Manchester for the professors at the now College of Technology to constitute the University’s Faculty of Technology. After World War Two the College was renamed the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).</p> <div class="twelvecol imageFloat floatLeft"> <figure class="noIndent"> <img class="lazy" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAPT09AAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" data-original="/about/our-story/rh_alt_Looking-Back-umist-(3)-(2).jpg" width="768" height="448" alt="UMIST" /> <noscript><img src="/about/our-story/rh_alt_Looking-Back-umist-(3)-(2).jpg" width="768" height="448" alt="UMIST" /></noscript> <figcaption>University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST)</figcaption> </figure> </div> <span id="d.en.965428"></span> <h3 class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW42646118 BCX8">Coming together as one  </h3> <p class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW42646118 BCX8">As the Institute grew, so did the Victoria University. The University started its life as Owens College following a legacy left by industrialist John Owens in 1846. By the 1860’s the College had transformed its vision and focused not only on the transmission of knowledge but also its creation. The John Owens building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse, was completed in 1873 before the College became the first constituent part of the Victoria University – England’s first civic university – in 1880. Both pre- and post-World Wars the University went on to expand significantly.</p> <div class="twelvecol imageFloat floatLeft"> <figure class="noIndent"> <img class="lazy" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAPT09AAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" data-original="/about/our-story/6-John-Owens-1908-new-(1).jpg" width="768" height="515" alt="John Owens Building, 1908" /> <noscript><img src="/about/our-story/6-John-Owens-1908-new-(1).jpg" width="768" height="515" alt="John Owens Building, 1908" /></noscript> <figcaption>John Owens Building, 1908</figcaption> </figure> </div> <span id="d.en.965516"></span> <p class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW42646118 BCX8">These two institutions worked closely together throughout the 20th century, representing research and teaching across science and the humanities, before coming together in 2004 to form the largest single-site university in the UK – The University of Manchester.  </p> <p class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW42646118 BCX8">Find out more about <a href="/about/history-heritage/">the University’s rich history</a>.</p> <span id="d.en.965522"></span> <h2> </h2> <h2>A history of impact</h2> <p>Throughout our history we’ve been making an impact, both at home and further afield.  </p> <div class="accordion upgrade"> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965526"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965526-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965526" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1824 – Educating the working population</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965526" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965526-button" hidden> <p>The Manchester Mechanics Institute opens. The Institute was the largest in England (outside of London) and provided education to the city’s workers until the 1880’s.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965527"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965527-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965527" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1852 – Expanding the English language</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965527" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965527-button" hidden> <p>University physician, natural theologian and lexicographer, Peter Mark Roget’s <em>Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases</em> is published. It remains in print today.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965549"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965549-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965549" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1880 – The first civic university</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965549" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965549-button" hidden> <p>Owens College becomes part of the Victoria University, England’s first civic university, built by and for the people of Manchester.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965550"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965550-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965550" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1917 – Initiating nuclear physics</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965550" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965550-button" hidden> <p>Nobel Prize winner Ernest Rutherford creates the first ever artificially induced nuclear reaction and, in turn, initiated the field of nuclear physics.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965551"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965551-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965551" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1918 – Votes for women</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965551" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965551-button" hidden> <p>University law alumnae Christabel Pankhurst campaigns for the right to vote for women and helps get The Representation of the People Act passed.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965552"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965552-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965552" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1940 – Keeping pace in the fight</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965552" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965552-button" hidden> <p>Alumnae Beatrice ‘Tilly’ Shilling invents an RAE restrictor to prevent engine cut-out in British fighter planes, enabling them to keep pace with the German Luftwaffe in World War II.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965553"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965553-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965553" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1945 – A force for change</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965553" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965553-button" hidden> <p>Manchester alumnae, Ellen Wilkinson is appointed England’s first female Minister for Education. Ellen was an active spokesperson for women’s interests, including equal pay.</p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965554"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965554-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965554" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1948 – Britain's first Black professor</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965554" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965554-button" hidden> <p>Sir William Arthur Lewis is appointed Chair of Manchester, making him the first Black professor in Britain. His work wins him the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965556"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965556-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965556" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1948 – The birth of modern computing</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965556" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965556-button" hidden> <p>The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, otherwise known as ‘The Baby’, becomes the world’s first computer to successfully run a program stored electronically in its memory.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965557"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965557-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965557" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1950 – The beginning of artificial intelligence</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965557" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965557-button" hidden> <p>Based at the University, computer science pioneer Alan Turing creates the Turing Test or ‘The Imitation Game’, a method of determining whether a machine can demonstrate human intelligence.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965558"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965558-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965558" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1957 – Tracking the stars</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965558" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965558-button" hidden> <p>Sirs Bernard Lovell and Charles Husband complete the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank – the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76 metres.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965559"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965559-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965559" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1962 – Helping people walk again</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965559" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965559-button" hidden> <p>Manchester alumnus Sir John Charnley revolutionises orthopaedic healthcare by creating the first plastic hip socket.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965560"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965560-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965560" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">1970 – A first for nursing</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965560" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965560-button" hidden> <p>Manchester becomes home to England's first nursing degree, with Jean McFarlane appointed England's first Chair of Nursing. </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965561"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965561-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965561" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">2001 – First female Chancellor</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965561" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965561-button" hidden> <p>Alumnae, journalist, television presenter and newsreader Anna Ford becomes our university’s first female Chancellor. </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965562"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965562-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965562" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">2004 – The home of graphene</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965562" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965562-button" hidden> <p>Sirs Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov are the first to isolate the properties of graphene, a 2D material thinner than a human hair yet 200 times stronger than steel.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965563"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965563-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965563" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">2004 – Creation of the UK's largest single-site university</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965563" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965563-button" hidden> <p>The Victoria University and University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) come together to create our university as we know it today, after being bestowed its royal charter by Queen Elizabeth II.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965564"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965564-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965564" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">2005 – Printing future biology</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965564" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965564-button" hidden> <p>Our university develops the first 3D printer of human tissue, allowing for larger tissues to be grown than previously attempted.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965566"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965566-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965566" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">2010 – Manchester scientists win Nobel Prize</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965566" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965566-button" hidden> <p>Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov receive the Nobel Prize in Physics and establish Manchester as the 'home of graphene'. </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965567"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965567-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965567" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">2019 – An icon of science and heritage</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965567" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965567-button" hidden> <p>Home to the 76-metre Lovell telescope, Jodrell Bank Observatory is named an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  </p> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-item" id="d.en.965569"> <h2><button class="accordion-item-button" id="accordion-item-965569-button" aria-controls="accordion-item-965569" aria-expanded="false" data-contenttype="Accordion"><span class="text">2024 – Creating societal and environmental impact</span><span class="icon"></span></button></h2> <div class="accordion-item-content" id="accordion-item-965569" aria-labelledby="accordion-item-965569-button" hidden> <p>Our university is the first to remain in the top ten for six years running in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, for our societal, environmental and governance impact.  </p> </div> </div> </div> <span id="d.en.965582"></span> <h2 class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW54600636 BCX8">Celebrating our bicentenary </h2> <p class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW54600636 BCX8">In 2024 we celebrate our bicentenary. 200 years of making a difference. 200 years of learning, innovation and research. 200 years of our incredible people and community.</p> <div class="twelvecol imageFloat floatLeft"> <figure class="noIndent"> <img class="lazy" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAPT09AAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" data-original="/about/our-story/Light-Up-feature-banner-1140x500-3-(1).jpg" width="768" height="337" alt="Light Up event on Oxford Road, Manchester" /> <noscript><img src="/about/our-story/Light-Up-feature-banner-1140x500-3-(1).jpg" width="768" height="337" alt="Light Up event on Oxford Road, Manchester" /></noscript> <figcaption>Light Up, Oxford Road</figcaption> </figure> </div> <span id="d.en.965583"></span> <p class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW54600636 BCX8">Whether it be lighting up our home on Oxford Road in our iconic purple, experiencing engaging talks, powerful performances and immersive art exhibitions at our Universally Manchester Festival, or creating a new lecture and podcast series, 2024 has been packed with opportunities for everyone to encourage and inspire each other. Something we have been doing throughout our history and will continue into our third century.</p> <div class="twelvecol imageFloat floatLeft"> <figure class="noIndent"> <img class="lazy" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAPT09AAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" data-original="/about/our-story/UMF-Fri---Mr-Wilsons-2-(1).jpg" width="768" height="512" alt="Universally Manchester Festival" /> <noscript><img src="/about/our-story/UMF-Fri---Mr-Wilsons-2-(1).jpg" width="768" height="512" alt="Universally Manchester Festival" /></noscript> <figcaption>Universally Manchester Festival</figcaption> </figure> </div> <span id="d.en.965618"></span> <p>Explore all that our <a class="Hyperlink SCXW54600636 BCX8" href="https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/bicentenary/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">bicentenary</a> has to offer.</p> <div class="clearfix singleVertPadding"> <a href="/about/our-campus/" id="promo-965590" class="promo-box-colour-link"> <div class="colourPromo purple sixcol"> <div class="content"> <h2>Our campus</h2> <p>Discover more about the history of our campus and the exciting new Quad development.</p> <p class="more">Find out more</p> </div> </div> </a> <a href="/about/magazine/opinion/200-years-manchester/" id="promo-965684" class="promo-box-colour-link"> <div class="colourPromo darkGrey sixcol last"> <div class="content"> <h2>200 years of The University of Manchester</h2> <p>Professor of Public History, Michael Wood, reflects on 200 years of our university in a piece written for the 2024 University Magazine. </p> <p class="more">Read more</p> </div> </div> </a> </div>  </div>  </div>  </div> </article>  <footer class="footerContainer" id="footer" data-swiftype-index="false"> <div class="row tripleVertPadding"> <div class="fourcol halfSizeUntilLargeMobile"> <h2 class="h2Small">Contact us</h2> <ul class="noBullets"> <li><a href="tel:+441613066000">+44 (0) 161 306 6000</a></li> <li><a href="/connect/contact-us/">Contact details</a></li> 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