Manchester is one of the principal cities of the United Kingdom, gaining city status in 1853, thus becoming the first new city in over 300 years since Bristol in 1542. Often regarded as the first industrialised city,[1] Manchester was a city built by the Industrial Revolution and had little pre-medieval history to speak of. Manchester had a population of 10,000 in 1717, but by 1911 it had burgeoned to 2.3 million.[2]
As its population and influence burgeoned, Manchester became a centre for new discoveries, scientific breakthroughs and technological developments in engineering. A famous but unattributed quote linked to Manchester is: "What Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow".[3][4] Pioneering breakthroughs such as the first 'true' canal which spawned 'Canal Mania', the first intercity railway station which led to 'railway mania' and the first stored-program computer. The city has achieved great success in the field of physics, with the electron (J. J. Thomson, 1897), proton (Rutherford, 1917), neutron (James Chadwick, 1934) all being discovered by scientists educated (Chadwick and Rutherford) or born (Thomson) in Manchester.
Famous scientists to have studied in Manchester include John Dalton, James Prescott Joule, J. J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, James Chadwick and Alan Turing. A creative and often seen as a bohemian city,[5] Manchester also had the highest number of patent applications per head of population in the United Kingdom in 2003.[6] The city is served by the University of Manchester, previously UMIST and the Victoria University of Manchester pre-2004. The university has a total of 25 Nobel Laureates; only the Oxbridge universities have more Nobel laureates. The city is also served by the Museum of Science and Industry celebrating Mancunian, as well as national achievements in both fields.