150 years of Science, Agriculture and Engineering (SAgE)
A short timeline of Physics at Newcastle University
1871 the Durham College of Physical Science was founded in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Alexander Stewart Herschel begins to work here as the first Professor of Physics and Experimental Philosophy, later elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
1904 renamed Armstrong College in honour of local industrialist and philanthropist Lord William Armstrong. Armstrong was an eminent scientist, engineer and inventor. In particular, he led the way with new developments in hydraulics, and his home at Cragside was the first in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity.
1937 Armstrong College and the College of Medicine merge to form King’s College.
1952 Teaching of Statistics as a separate discipline starts
1962 Herschel Building and Annex, now the home of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics is built. It is named after astronomer Alexander Stewart Herschel, who was known for his work relating to meteors and comets. Alexander Herschel was also interested in Hamilton’s Icosian game and described solutions for the regular tetrahedron and icosahedron in place of the normal dodecahedron. The Herschel graph is named after him in honour of his pioneering work and describes the smallest convex polyhedron that can be used in place of the dodecahedron to give a game that has no solution.
1962 Spiral Nebula sculpture by sculptor Geoffrey Clarke commissioned, installed in 1963 in front of the Herschel Building, now Grade II listed
1963 King’s College (having grown way larger than all the Durham division) becomes independent of the University of Durham and becomes the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
1968 Grubb-Parsons Telescope Mirror put in Herschel Foyer
1980 Cosmology Group founded by Paul Davies who is appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics, his contributions include describing how black holes radiate energy and the ripples in the otherwise homogeneous Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.
2002 School of Mathematics becomes School of Mathematics and Statistics
2007 Mathematics & Statistics moves into the Herschel Building
2015 Relaunch of Physics Undergraduate Teaching Programs using the new facilities in the Herschel Annex.
2017 School of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics forms
Public Lectures on Cosmology
October 2022: Is there any science in science fiction films? by Professor Douglas Scott
April 2022: The state of our Universe by Professor Ed Copeland
October 2020: Everything from nothing: how our universe was made by Professor Carlos Frenk
