Officially known as the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, the Imperial College London is one of the United Kingdom’s leading public research universities. This English university, which specializes in science, engineering, medicine and business, was established on July 8th, 1907. It was a former constituent college of the federal University of London until July 9th, 2007 when the school became fully independent.
Although it was established in 1907, the school’s origin can be traced back to the College of St. Gregory and St. Martin at Wye, which was founded as a seminary, and became an agricultural college after the seminary was removed. Other institutions were also established, including the Royal College of Chemistry, the Royal School of Mines, and the Royal College of Science in 1845, 1851 and 1881 respectively. These institutions later merged to create what is now known as the Imperial College of London.
It was in 1907 that the school was officially founded as the Imperial College of Science and Technology. In 1988, the St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School became part of the Imperial College, after which, it was renamed as the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.
In 2000, the school merged with the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology and Wye College. The school continued to be a constituent of the University of London, and established departments assigned to the Faculties of Engineering, Medicine, Physical Sciences and Life Sciences. The school granted degrees, and even conducted some joint ventures with other notable colleges and institutions. After several years of negotiations, the school became fully independent from the University of London in July 2007.
Today, the Imperial College London is one of the country’s leading research colleges and an internationally recognized institution, especially in Pure Mathematics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering.
The Imperial College London facilitates robotics research through the Laboratory for Biomedical Robotics, Laboratory for Pervasive Sensing and Assistive Technologies, Laboratory for Biomedical Imaging and Photonics, and the Laboratory for Perception and Neuro-ergonomics.
Besides medical robotics, the school has researched on humanoids and robots that are inspired by nature, as well as bio-inspired flying robots.
