Darwin College, Cambridge

Darwin College
University of Cambridge
Darwin College's buildings from the River Cam
Arms of Darwin College
Scarf colours: blue, with two equally-spaced narrow sets of three adjacent red, Cambridge blue and yellow stripes, with the red stripes closest to the edge of the scarf, and the yellow stripes closest to the centre
LocationSilver Street
Coordinates52°12′02″N 0°06′49″E / 52.2006°N 0.1137°E / 52.2006; 0.1137 (Darwin College)
AbbreviationDAR[1]
Founders
Established1964
Named afterThe Darwin Family
Sister collegeWolfson College, Oxford
MasterMike Rands
UndergraduatesNone
Postgraduates750 (2022-23)
Endowment£26,667,686 (2017)[2][3]
VisitorLords Chief Justices of England and Wales ex officio[4]
Websitewww.darwin.cam.ac.uk Edit this at Wikidata
Student associationwww.dcsa.darwin.cam.ac.uk
Boat clubwww.darwin.cam.ac.uk/dcbc/
Map
Darwin College, Cambridge is located in Central Cambridge
Darwin College, Cambridge
Location in Central Cambridge
Darwin College, Cambridge is located in Cambridge
Darwin College, Cambridge
Location in Cambridge

Darwin College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded on 28 July 1964, Darwin was Cambridge University's first graduate-only college, and also the first to admit both men and women. The college is named after one of the university's most famous families and alumni, that of Charles Darwin. The Darwin family previously owned some of the land, Newnham Grange, on which the college now stands.

The college has between 650 and 800 students, mostly studying for PhD or MPhil degrees with strengths in the sciences, humanities, and law. About half the students come from outside the United Kingdom, representing 80 nationalities as of 2016. Darwin is the largest graduate college of Cambridge. Darwin's sister college at Oxford University is Wolfson College.

Members of Darwin College are termed Darwinians. The college has several distinguished alumni including prominent heads of government and state, politicians, diplomats, and scientists from various countries such as British primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall,[5][6] American conservationist Dian Fossey, Barbadian Governor-General Elliott Belgrave, Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn, Nobel Prize winner Eric Maskin, Solicitor-General of the United States Paul Clement, Global Energy Prize winning scientist Thorsteinn I. Sigfusson, and Pulitzer Prize nominated neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi.

Sir Ian Wilmut, the leader of the research group that in 1996 first cloned a mammal from an adult somatic cell (a Finnish Dorset lamb named Dolly), is also an alumnus of the college. Honorary fellows include Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, and the scientist Martin Rees. Notable students and fellows of Darwin College include British politician Oliver Letwin, Nobel Prize winner Richard Henderson and four Nobel Laureates.[7] The college has 23 Fellows of the Royal Society among its current, emeritus, and honorary fellows including Dame Jane Francis.[8]

  1. ^ "Notice by the Editor". Cambridge University Reporter. 149 (Special No 5). University of Cambridge: 1. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Annual report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2017" (PDF). Darwin College, Cambridge. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  3. ^ "Annual report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2019" (PDF). Darwin College, Cambridge. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference darwin-cam-statutes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Honorary Fellows – Newnham College".
  6. ^ "Goodall, Dame (Valerie) Jane, (Born 3 April 1934), Scientific Director, Gombe Wildlife Research Institute, Tanzania, since 1967". Who's Who. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U17468. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4.
  7. ^ "Dr Richard Henderson wins Nobel Prize for Chemistry | Darwin College". Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Darwin Fellow Dame Jane Francis elected FRS | Darwin College". Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.