A independent a portion of the college is located in Bloomsbury, central London, on Gower Street. A nigh stations on the London Underground are Euston, Euston Square, and Warren Street.

History
Jeremy Bentham

A philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832) is considered to be the spiritual father of UCL, when he played a major role in the development of the college. When he is typically credited by having founding a college, Jeremy Bentham played there is no section in the establishment of the institution.

Jeremy Bentham was a heavy advocate for making higher education supplementary widely available, & is typically linked by having the University's early adoption of a policy of making a lot courses available to anyone (world health organization can pay the fees) regardless of sex, religion or even political beliefs.

The farther understanding for Jeremy Bentham's fame inside UCL is due to the fact that his person get on display to the public. Jeremy Bentham specified within his might that he wanted his immune system to become preserved as a lasting memorial, & this instruction was punctually carried out. This 'Auto-Icon' has be notable. Regrettably, whenever it come to preserving his head, a run went disastrously wrongly & left a head badly disfigured. The wax head was processed to replenish it, however for several years the rattling head sat between his legs. Notwithstanding, this head was oft stolen & subjected to numerous student pranks, by owning students from either rival King's College London often the culprits. the head is said to keep close at hand at within one case been witnessed in a baggage locker at Aberdeen station, and to stand been utilized as a football by students in the Quad. These cases led to the head existence flushed from either display & positioned instead in the College vaults, in which it remains to this day.

More hearsay surrounding a Auto-Icon come that a pack containing his remains is wheeled into senior college meetings, & that he is so used inside minutes when 'present but not vote'. He is besides said to have a vote on a council, but only while the vote is split, & that he universally votes in favour the motion.

Whenever a Upper Refectory was refurbished around 2003, a room became renamed the Jeremy Bentham Room (every now and again abbreviated JBR) within tribute to the human.

Founding and Development
UCL was founded inside 1826 under the title "University of London" instead to the strictly religious universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Yet it was non until 1836, when a University of London was established, that a college was legally recognised & granted the power to award degrees of the University of London. Its legal status as a university-level institution thus postdates that of Durham (founded 1832); however because it was actually founded inside 1826 these are typically claimed to exist as a third oldest university within Engl&, fallowing Oxford and Cambridge. It has as well been said that, since a charter of King's College London (granted in 1829) predates that of UCL by five years, UCL should not even be regarded as the oldest college in the University of London.

A college was a 1st UK higher education institution to assume students of any race or even even religious or political belief. It was even a number 1 to assume women in equal terms by owning men (a University of Bristol also makes this claim - as each were admitting students to University of London degrees at the instance, these are quite conceivable that this was a pan action), the foremost around England to establish a student union (although men & women experienced separate unions until 1945), and a foremost to use professorships in chemical engineering, chemistry, Egyptology, electrical engineering, English, French, geography, German, Italian, papyrology, phonetics, psychology, and zoology.

Around 1907 the University of London was reconstituted and numerous of the colleges, including UCL, wasted their separate legal being. This continued until 1977 when a freshly charter restored UCL's independence. Inside 1985 a main Gower Street building was eventually finished - 158 years fallowing the foundations were placed.

Within 1973, UCL became the number one international link to the ARPANET, the precursor of now's internet.

Around August 1998 the medical school at UCL merged by owning The Royal Free Hospital Medical School to create a newly Royal Yours free! & University College Medical School.

Possibly now UCL retains its nonindulgent lay position, & unlike virtually all more UK universities has there is no Christian chaplaincy or Muslim prayer rooms. Due to this policy UCL has as well been referred to as "the godless institution of Gower Street".

UCL Union repeats this policy, and is as well constitutionally forbidden from either existence attached to the political person. Candidates for positions just can't campaign in person tickets, to which several will attribute a perennial descriptions of UCL when comparatively 'unpolitical', especially around direct contrast to nearby institutions rather LSE. However i personally can equally pin this in social/cultural tendencies inside a student system & university administration.

the UCL Library is far-famed inside its have best, its collection including a number 1 edition of Newton's Principia.

Inside October 2002, a project to merge UCL by owning Imperial College London was announced by the universities. A merger was widely seen as a de facto takeover of UCL by Imperial College & was opposed by two staff & UCL Union, the students' union; however what particularly angered numerous staff & students was a perceived deficiency of consultation prior to a proposal was manufactured. At an Emergency meeting organised by University College London Union to discuss a merger & a union´s stance thereon, a so provost Sir Derek Roberts stormed away from the Bloomsbury theatre, refusing to listen to a speaker world health organization opposed the merger. He himself experienced good finished redeeming the speech in favor. 1 year late when a vigorous campaign the merger was known as slay.

In 1 August 2003, Professor [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/provost/biography/ Malcolm Grant] took a role of President & Provost (the principal of UCL), taking above from either Sir Derek Roberts, world health organization experienced been known as away from retirement as a caretaker provost for the college.

Shortly fallowing his inauguration, UCL began a 'Campaign for UCL' initiative, within 2004. It aimed to raise £300m from either alumni & friends. This rather expressed political campaign is traditionally unusual for UK universities, & is similar to U.s.a. university funding. UCL got the financial endowment in a top ten among UK universities at £81m, based on data from the Sutton Trust (2002).

UCL was known as University of the Season 2005 per Days.

Famous Alumni
Look at as well List of UCL Alumni

UCL alumni include legions of the "Great and Good", ranging from either Mahatma Gandhi to the members of Coldplay. An historical bent towards the arts has tended to mean a higher output of authors, including Robert Browning and Raymond Briggs, than scientists & engineers, although it however has its fair part, like Francis Crick, John Ambrose Fleming and perhaps virtually all notably Alexander Graham Bell. Politicians figure extremely in a lists, notably two the foremost prime minister of Japan, Hirobumi Ito and the todays prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.

UCL buildings
UCL operates around numbers of separate buildings. When virtually all of the buildings come concentrated in the Bloomsbury area of Central London (near Euston station), others may be obtained when far away when Old Street. Occasionally of the buildings keep close at h& been acquired across mergers sustaining more colleges, and others develop been new built. A newest include a Engineering Wing in Malet Place & a Andrew Huxley Building inside a Gower Street Places. UCL's deuce recently buildings come the Londwithin Center for Nanotechnology on Gordon Street, aimed for completion in 2006 & a recently building for the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (currently at Senate House) which will be finished inside October 2005 in Taviton Street.

Notable buildings: A Main Building as well referred to as a Octagon (building) including a Quad, Cloisters & the Wilkins building One-19 Torrington Place Bedford Way Buildings Bentham House (Endsleigh Street) A UCL Bloomsbury Theatre Campbell Home East & West (Taviton Street) Chadwick House the Cruciate Building - the red-red-brick building notable for existence built within a cross shape (Medicine) Drayton House Engineering Building (Malet Place) Ifor Evans & Max Rayne Student Residences (Camden Road) Foster Court (Languages) Frances Gardner Home & Langton Close (Gray's Inn Road) Christopher Ingold Building (Gordon Street) London Centre for Nanotechnology (Gordon Street) Medawar (known as when Peter Medawar) Ramsey Hall Hall (Maple Street) Rayne Buildings Rockefeller (Science) Schafer Home Hall (Drummond Street) University College Hospital (recently re-built) UCLU (Gordon Street) Wates Home (Endsleigh Gardens) DMS Watson Science Library

Museums and collections
UCL is responsible many museums & collections inside a wide range of fields through the arts & sciences:

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology: one of the leading collections of Egyptian & Sudanese archeology in the globe. Open to the public regularly. Grant Museum of Zoology & Comparative Anatomy: a diverse Natural History collection covering the whole of the kingdom animalia. Includes uncommon dodo and quagga skeletons. The teaching & the food and drug administration collection, these are known as fallowing Robert Grant, UCL's foremost prof of comparative anatomy & zoology from either 1828. Open at limited fixed days & by appointment. Geology Collections: based as much as 1855. Primarily the teaching resource & can be visited by appointment. Art Collections: these date from either 1847 after the collection of sculpture system & drawings of the Neo-neoclassic creative person John Flaxman was presented to UCL. There are all over 10,000 pieces dating from either a 15th century forward including drawings by Turner etchings by Rembrandt and works by many leading 20th century British creative person. A works in paper come displayed in The Strang Print Room, which has limited regular opening days. A more works can be viewed by appointment. Institute of Archaeology Collections: Items include prehistoric ceramics & stone artifact from either numbers of area of a globe, the Petrie collection of Palestinian artifact, & Classical Greek & Roman ceramics. Visits by appointment single. Ethnography Collections: This collection exemplifying Material Culture, holds an tremendous kind of objects, cloth & artifact from either a lot across the world. Visits by appointment single. Galton Collection: A scientific instruments, papers & individual memorabilia of Sir Francis Galton. Housed in the department of biology. Visits by appointment lone. Science Collections: Diverse collections primarily accumulated in the course of UCL's have functiin, including a operating table on which a number one anesthetic agent was administered. Things can be the viewed by appointment.

UCL is getting A fresh facility known as The Panopticon which may allow public access to its collections to exist as greatly improved. UCL Library's Favorite Collections, which encompass the big & diverse collection of uncommon books, incunabula and medieval manuscripts, including Jewish Collections of over 15,000 things, might besides get into a recently building. a Panopticon may feature lasting galleries for the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, galleries devoted to the Art & Library Favorite Collections, a gallery for irregular exhibitions from either the more collections, lecture theatres & learn rooms. Planning permission was granted withwithin 2004 & these are scheduled to open in 2009.

Campus Networking
UCL will bring students & staff sustaining wired & wireless net access at the total of locations in campus, across the service known as RoamNet. Nonetheless, access to this service takes the utilise of a proprietary Cisco VPN client, which is nin supported on handhelds, non-Intel Linux systems, or even more choice platforms.

UCL user list come on the face of it random: e.g. "ucaxxxx". depending on data from a UCL Education & Facts Trend lines Section, network users withwithin student halls are non allowed to participate in IRC, network stake swimming, or even even even even even even chain armor; or hikers services like HTTP, mail, FTP, NNTP, or telnet; or start package that utilizes RPC-based services (like NFS) or IP multicast services; connect differently one machine at one time to a single network jack, or attach any device other than their family workstation to the jack. Plugging a machine into an additional active port forswearing authorization may induced the security violation, & the port is disabled. When of September 2005, the fee for even activating the port around the room is Lxx GBP by the season, & just can not become refunded or issued at a forget about for intervals of less than a single month.

Filming at UCL
Due to its position in London & a attractiveness of the front quad, UCL has been oft utilized as a location for film & television recording. Spooks (Series IDeuce, episode II) features a front quad & a Gustav Tuck Lecture Theatre The Mummy Returns uses bits of UCL to masquerade as a British Museum Batman Begins features the DMS Watson library when "Gotham Print Room". Thunderbirds used a independent Quad & Building when the "Bank of London". Gladiator used the independent Quad as a model for ancient Rome

Interesting Facts
Life Thru a Lens, the debut album by Robbie Williams features UCL in a album artwork, including the front handle. There occurs as pub named a Jeremy Bentham, fallowing the UCL auto-icon, within University Street, London. The todays UCL provost, Prof Malcolm Grant, agreed to shave off his moustache if UCL students raised £1500 for Comic Relief, on Red Nose Day, 2005. Alas for his moustache - of 33 years - students & staff punctually donated on top £2000. A spiritual father of UCL, Jeremy Bentham, is likewise far-famed for designing Prisons virtually all notably a Panopticon