Cambridge University

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Cambridge University

Oxford University

Cambridge University is the second oldest - after Oxford - in Britain. The university has 31 colleges (see the list of colleges).

The colleges
The origins of Cambridge University date back to the arrival of former students of Oxford University in 1209 but it wasn't until 1284 that the first college - Peterhouse - was founded. By the end of the 16th century another fifteen colleges had been established and then - in the 19th and 20th centuries - fifteen more.

As with Oxford, Cambridge University - especially its older established colleges - has seen many of its students go on to achieve notable things.

No degree
But a successful completion of their studies was not always necessary for former students to achieve success in life. The Poet Laureates Thomas Shadwell and Alfred Tennyson, the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Siegfried Sassoon and the writers William Makepeace Thackeray and Christopher Isherwood all left Cambridge without a degree. A degree also eluded Edward VII, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Britain's first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and the chemist Henry Cavendish (whose descendants endowed the university's world-famous Cavendish Laboratory).

Women
It wasn't until Girton College (1869) and Newnham College (1871) opened that women were finally admitted to Cambridge. Since then graduates have included the first British woman to win a Nobel Prize, Dorothy Hodgkin; the poet Sylvia Plath and the writer Iris Murdoch.

The following list shows the thirty-one colleges, grouped by the century in which they were founded.

The colleges founded before the 18th century include information on a selection of famous people who have been connected to the college and links to the college website and its history webpage.

The colleges founded since 1800 have links to their websites.

The 31 Cambridge Colleges

13th century
Peterhouse Founded: 1284

14th century
Clare College Founded: 1326	Pembroke College Founded: 1347	Gonville & Caius College Founded: 1348	Trinity Hall Founded: 1350	Corpus Christi College Founded: 1352

15th century
Magdalene College Founded: 1428	King's College Founded: 1441	Queens' College Founded: 1448	St Catharine's College Founded: 1473	Jesus College Founded: 1496

16th century
Christ's College Founded: 1505	St John's College Founded: 1511	Trinity College Founded: 1546	Emmanuel College Founded: 1584	Sidney Sussex College Founded: 1596

19th century
Downing College Founded: 1800	Girton College Founded: 1869	Fitzwilliam College Founded: 1869	Newnham College Founded: 1871	Selwyn College Founded: 1882
Hughes Hall Founded: 1885	St Edmund's College Founded: 1896

20th century
New Hall Founded: 1954	Churchill College Founded: 1960	Darwin College Founded: 1964	Lucy Cavendish College Founded: 1965	Clare Hall Founded: 1965
Wolfson College Founded: 1965	Homerton College Founded: 1976	Robinson College Founded: 1979

16th century

Christ's College

A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.

Christ's College was founded in 1505 by Lady Margaret Beaufort the mother of Henry VII. It was created out of Gods-House a school which had taught grammar school masters since 1437.

History

Inventors and Scientists

Charles Darwin

Scientist

Undergraduate, 1828-31

MA, 1836

Nobel Prize Winners

Sir Martin J. Evans

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 2007

Undergraduate, -1963

MA, 1966

Writers and Poets

John Milton

Writer

Undergraduate, 1625-28

MA, 1632

St John's College

A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.

St John's College was founded in 1511 by the executors of the will of Lady Margaret Beaufort - the mother of Henry VII - who had died in 1509. The college was created from the ancient hospital of St John the Evangelist which had stood on the site since around 1200.

History

Famous People

William Wilberforce

Social reformer

Undergraduate, 1776-81

MA, 1788

Nobel Prize Winners

Sir Edward Appleton

Nobel Prize for Physics, 1947

Undergraduate, 1911-14

Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy, 1936-39

See Trinity College

Sir John Cockcroft

Nobel Prize for Physics, 1951

Undergraduate, 1922-24

Fellow, 1928-46

Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy, 1939-46

Sir Nevill F. Mott

Nobel Prize for Physics, 1977

Undergraduate, 1924-27

MA, 1930

Cavendish Professor of Physics, 1954-71

See Gonville & Caius College

P.A.M. Dirac

Nobel Prize for Physics, 1933

Fellow, 1927-69

Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, 1932-69

Frederick Sanger

Double Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1958 and 1980

Undergraduate, 1936-39

See Kings College

Maurice Wilkins

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1962

Undergraduate, -1938

Abdus Salam

Nobel Prize for Physics, 1979

Undergraduate, 1946-49

Fellow, 1951-56

Prime Ministers

Marquess of Rockingham

Prime Minister of Britain, 1765-66 and 1782

Undergraduate

Viscount Goderich

Prime Minister of Britain, 1827-28

Undergraduate, 1800-02

Earl of Aberdeen

Prime Minister of Britain, 1852-55

Undergraduate, 1800-04

Viscount Palmerston

Prime Minister of Britain, 1855-58 and 1859-65

Undergraduate, 1803-06

Writers and Poets

William Wordsworth

Poet laureate, 1843-50

Undergraduate, 1787-91

Trinity College

A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.

Trinity College - the largest at Cambridge- was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. Two earlier institutions were combined to form the new college: Michaelhouse (founded 1324) and King's Hall (founded 1317).

Thirty-two students from the college have gone on to be awarded a Nobel Prize.

History
Notable Alumni