page_title: History of Imperial College London
section_title: Post-War expansion
hierarchical_section_title: History of Imperial College London / 20th century / Post-War expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, UK. NHS Trust and Imperial College London campus. Home of the Alexander Fleming Museum. Sir Alexander Fleming, Nobel Prize for Medicine 1945 (Penicillin).
context_page_description: The history of Imperial College London can be traced back to the founding of the Royal College of Chemistry in 1845 in London, with some ancestral medical schools dating back to 1823. The college was formed in 1907 out of the Royal Colleges in South Kensington, and throughout the 20th century became central to the national strategy for technical education and research. It existed for most of its life as part of the University of London, only becoming independent in 2007.
context_section_description: Following the second world war, there was again concern that Britain was falling behind in science – this time to the United States. The Percy Report of 1945 noted that "there have been indications lately of a readiness of the English to move in the direction of American institutions, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology". The report of the Barlow Committee in 1946 advised doubling the number of graduates in science and technology and establishing a new technological university. The idea of a "British MIT" was backed by influential scientists as politicians of the time, including Lord Cherwell, Sir Lawrence Bragg and Sir Edward Appleton, but there was also strong opposition: the University Grants Committee (UGC) argued that "an institution confined to a narrow range of subjects is unfavorable to the highest attainment", while the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals stated that "a single-faculty institution cannot be a university". In 1952, the government stated their intention of "building up at least one institution of university rank devoted predominantly to the teaching and study of the various forms of technology". However, the continued opposition of the UGC led to a compromise being announced in 1953: Imperial College would be expanded, almost doubling in size (from 1,650 to 3,000 students) over the next ten years, as the "institution of university rank" promised in the government's policy, but would remain part of the University of London rather than becoming an independent technological university.
  The expansion of the college led to a number of new buildings being erected. These included the Hill building in 1957 and the Physics building in 1960, and the completion of the East Quadrangle, built in four stages between 1959 and 1965. The building work also meant the demolition of the City and Guilds College building in 1962–63. The Imperial Institute building was also demolished between 1957 and 1967, although it remained partly occupied by the institute until 1962. Opposition from the Royal Fine Arts Commission and others meant that the central tower (now the Queen's Tower) was retained, with work carried out between 1966 and 1968 to make it free standing.
  New laboratories for biochemistry were established with the support of a £350,000 grant from the Wolfson Foundation in 1959, which was also instrumental in attracting Ernst Chain to Imperial to head the biochemistry department. The new buildings were opened by the Queen in 1965.
  A special relationship between Imperial and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi was established in 1963. Under this agreement, Imperial helped train Indian staff and academics from Imperial went on long term secondments to Delhi. In the same year, the Department of History of Science and Technology was established.
  From 1965, the UGC allocated 'indicated' funding to Imperial. While the grant continued to come thorough the University of London, the federal university, was no longer free to decide on Imperial's allocation out of its block grant. As the university used its grant to cross-subsidise weaker components of the federation, leading to complaints that stronger colleges were losing out, this was a situation envied by the other colleges.
  An agreement was made for the Architectural Association School of Architecture to join Imperial as a fourth constituent college, but this was dependent on the Architectural Association raising £500,000 for a new building and did not take place. By the late 1960s, government funding was no longer so readily available, and in 1969, Imperial launched an appeal for £2 million. Over half of this was to be spent on student accommodation, with the aim that students would spend at least one year in college-owned halls of residence, the rest to be spent supporting research and teaching and on developing the Silwood Park field station.
  The Department of Management Science was created in 1971 out of the Management Engineering Section of the Mechanical Engineering Department. The Associated Studies Department was established in 1972, 
caption: St Mary's Hospital
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