Postgraduate Graduation
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Postgraduate Graduation Wednesday 1 M ay 2013 Royal Albert Hall • London The PresidenT & recTor’s welcome Today we welcome some After crossing the stage of the Royal Albert Hall, graduands formally become graduates, joining 2,600 graduands and a 160,000-strong global community of alumni. Wherever you take your talents next, fellow Imperial 5,000 guests from over alumni will be nearby. Almost every country and 100 nations to our annual region of the world has its own Imperial alumni association and they will be delighted to welcome Postgraduate Award you as the newest members of the Imperial family. Ceremonies held in the Today is all about your wonderful achievements. Enjoy your moment. Whatever path you take next, our splendour of the best wishes go with you. Royal Albert Hall. Warm regards, As we celebrate our new graduates’ remarkable achievements at Imperial, we reflect not only on academic distinctions already attained, but also on the opportunities and challenges to come, the goals we are yet to accomplish, the rewards still to be reaped. Sir Keith O’Nions Imperial did not become one of the world’s great universities by letting its students off lightly. Postgraduate study at Imperial requires remarkable intellectual prowess, sustained hard work and exceptional creative thinking. Not everyone has what it takes, but today’s graduates do. Thank you for choosing to bring your extraordinary talents here and enriching our community. I also wish to extend a special thanks to the family and friends here today who have provided invaluable support, guidance and advice over many years of study. You deserve to feel great pride in our graduates’ success. Unauthorised photography is not allowed in the Royal Albert Hall. (Official photographers receive special permission beforehand.) Please switch off your mobile phone. Scientific thought and its creation is the common and shared heritage of mankind.” — Abdus Salam FRS, Nobel laureate and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial from 1957–94 imPerial PasT and PresenT A new chapter in the With 73 Fellows of the Royal Society Imperial’s graduation ceremonies College’s history began in among our current academic staff Until 1955, Imperial’s graduation e 2007 with the celebration of or with an ongoing association with ceremonies took place in the Great Hall Imperial’s 100th birthday and its new the College, and distinguished past of the University of London, which was status as an independent university. members of the College including then located in the Imperial Institute Today’s graduation ceremonies 14 Nobel laureates and two Fields at the heart of the South Kensington recognise the continuing high Medallists, Imperial’s contribution to Campus. Before each ceremony, a achievement of Imperial’s students. society during its history has been formal College procession filed from immense. Inventions and innovations Prince Consort Road to the Great Hall Imperial currently attracts over 14,000 include the discovery of penicillin, the students and 6,000 staff of the of the Institute. All that remains of the development of holography and the Imperial Institute today is the Queen’s highest international quality and has foundations of fibre optics. a worldwide reputation for excellence Tower, saved from demolition in the in teaching and research. The College Famous names associated with Imperial late 1960s. began its journey towards its current include T.H. Huxley, one of the greatest The first College graduation ceremony position—third in Europe and eighth in scientists of the nineteenth century; in the Royal Albert Hall was held on the world, as rated by the 2012–13 the author H.G. Wells; joint Nobel 26 October 1955. The day’s events THE World University Rankings—a Prize winners, Sir Alexander Fleming commemorated the 1945 centenary century ago with just 600 students and and Sir Ernst Chain, discoverers of of the Royal College of Science; the 12 professors. penicillin; W.E. Dalby, the internationally oldest forerunner of Imperial. The renowned railway engineer; W.H. Perkin, RCS centenary was attended by King The College was founded in July 1907 inventor of mauveine, the first aniline by the merger of three great nineteenth George VI and Queen Elizabeth and dye that led to the development of the its anniversary became known as century institutions—the Royal College synthetic chemical industry; Sir Almroth of Science, the City and Guilds College Commemoration Day in honour of Wright, a pioneer of vaccination; Eric their visit. and the Royal School of Mines. The late Laithwaite, known for his development twentieth century saw mergers with of magnetically levitated (maglev) Imperial undergraduates and St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, high-speed trains; and George Finch postgraduates were all presented at the National Heart and Lung Institute, who, in 1922, was able to climb higher the same ceremony in the Royal Albert the Charing Cross and Westminster than any previous mountaineer due Hall on Commemoration Day each Medical School, the Royal Postgraduate to his pioneering work on oxygen and October until 1996, when a ceremony Medical School, Wye College and the breathing apparatus. for postgraduates only was added in Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology. The May. In 2007, as part of the College’s Imperial of today operates across seven Since the College’s creation, about Centenary celebrations, a special campuses and several associated sites 170,000 of the brightest students in graduation ceremony was held in in west London and the home counties. the world have been educated by such Singapore to reflect the large number of authorities in their subjects. Today, the students coming to Imperial from Asia. Imperial’s founding charter created College attracts students from over 150 an institution “… to give the highest countries across the globe, and has specialised instruction and to provide a network of international links and The Imperial mace the fullest equipment for the most collaborations with many of the world’s Imperial’s graduation ceremonies see advanced training and research in top universities. various branches of science especially the procession of the Imperial mace, in its application to industry”. This pictured right, a generous gift from commitment to apply Imperial’s The College coat of arms the Goldsmiths’ Company that marks research for the benefit of all has Imperial becoming a university in its The College coat of arms, which been a constant theme throughout own right and the award of its new incorporates the royal coat of arms, the College’s history, and holds strong charter by Her Majesty The Queen in was assigned by royal warrant dated today with current focuses including 2007. First used in 2009, the mace is 6 June 1908. The motto was devised interdisciplinary collaborations made of silver and gilt, and weighs by Imperial’s Governing Body with to tackle climate change, and 7.1 kg. It was made by craftsmen from the name as well as the purpose of mathematical modelling to predict Padgham and Putland of Kent and the College in mind and perhaps and control the spread of infectious its intricate workings incorporate the drawing ‘decus et tutamen’ from line diseases, such as avian flu. College coat of arms and motto. 262 of Book V of Virgil’s Aeneid. The translation appropriate to the spirit of the age and the intentions of the founders is “scientific knowledge, the crowning glory and the safeguard of the empire”. 2 Imperial College London Postgraduate Graduation Ceremony Wednesday 1 May 2013 • Royal Albert Hall The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.” The history of our academic dress — Dennis Gabor FRS, Professor of Electron Physics The robes our graduates wear today have their origin in the everyday dress of the at Imperial, inventor of holography and Nobel laureate Middle Ages which consisted of a tunic and cloak and, to protect the head and shoulders, a hood. The ancient universities in Europe began as communities of scholars and teachers in religious schools around great cathedrals or monasteries. Students there were clerics, who would have worn clothing similar to that of everyone else at the time. As fashions in the world changed, the church and universities retained their cloaks which became the main item of academic dress. For centuries, the shape of a university robe’s sleeve denoted the degree attained by its wearer. However, the advent of many new universities, each requiring an individual system of robes, brought changes that continue being made to the present day. Until 2007, all Imperial College London graduates wore University of London academic dress. Then, to reflect Imperial’s status as an independent university, new robes were designed and today’s graduation ceremonies see graduates wearing both College and University of London robes. See page 5 for more details. Wednesday 1 May 2013 • Royal Albert Hall 3 recenT imPerial news New campus succeed Professor Dorothy Griffiths, and will focus on supporting those Leaders from business, research and who has served as Dean (formerly in financial need. Students will have government attended the launch in Principal) of the School since February access to world class academic training March 2013 of the vision for Imperial 2012, following Professor David Begg’s and support throughout their PhD West, a new seven-acre campus in retirement. Currently Dean of the enabling them contribute to society, White City close to the Hammersmith Robert H. Smith School of Business industry and academia upon