Mason Science College was founded by Josiah Mason in 1875 and its building in Edmund Street, Birmingham, England, was opened by Thomas Henry Huxley on 1 October 1880. In 1900 it was incorporated into the new University of Birmingham.
Notable alumni include:
- Francis William Aston, British chemist and physicist who won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister.
- Stanley Baldwin, British Prime Minister.
- Sir Henry Fowler, locomotive engineer
- C.W. Hobley, pioneering colonial administrator in Kenya
- Frank Horton FRS Professor of Physics at Royal Holloway College and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London 1939-45
- Henry Eliot Howard, ornithologist
- Constance Naden, Poet & Philosopher
- John Berry Haycraft discovered an anticoagulant created by the leech, which he named hirudin
The original Victorian Neo-Gothic building was demolished in 1962, along with the original Central Public Library and the Birmingham and Midland Institute, as part of the redevelopment within the inner ring road. The current Central Library stands on the site of the old college.
Famous quotes containing the words science and/or college:
“There are two kinds of truth; the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art.... Without art science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“Face your own ambivalence about letting go and you will be better able to help you children cope with their own feelings. The insight you gain through your own acceptance of change will bolster your confidence and make you a stronger college parent. The confidence you develop will be evident to your child, who will be able to move away from you without fear.”
—Norman Goddam (20th century)