1930
Department of Preventative Medicine established
Following on from their collaboration on typhoid carriers in 1909, the University's Professor Isaac Walker Hall, Professor of Pathology and Morbid Anatomy, and the City's Medical Officer of Health, Dr David Davies, establish a new Department of Preventative Medicine in the former men's hall of residence in Canynge Hall. By 1932 they are training health visitors - a collaboration with great beneficial effects for the people of Bristol.
See how our labs have developed: 1910, 1927, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1950, 1975, 1995 and 1999.
First female Registrar appointed
Winifred Lucy Shapland, Secretary of the University since 1928, is appointed Registrar, making her the first female registrar of any British university.
Honorary degree for Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain is awarded an honorary degree (LL. D).
Aerial view of the future University site
An aerial view of the future University precinct. The large green area is what is now Bristol Grammar School's sports centre.
Paul Dirac wins Nobel Prize for physics
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902-84), a graduate in engineering from the University, wins the Nobel Prize for physics (jointly with Erwin Schrödinger) for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory.
Bristol Medical School celebrates its centenary
Bristol Medical School, established in 1833 and later amalgamated with University College, Bristol, celebrates its centenary with a banquet in the Victoria Rooms.
Thousands gather for cider-tasting
Some 2,500 people interested in cider and fruit-growing travel from all over England to the University's Long Ashton Research Station for Public Tasting Day. There is widespread consensus that 1933 was a vintage year for cider.
The Prince of Wales visits the University
On 6 November, The Prince of Wales visits the University settlement in Ducie Road, Barton Hill, where he meets men working on a range of handicrafts. He unwittingly leaves a souvenir in the form of his fingerprints on a freshly enamelled tray.
Cleaning staff hard at work
A team of cleaning staff hard at work in the Wills Memorial Building.
See other photos of cleaning staff in 1943, 2000 and 2002.
Churchill visits Bristol
Churchill visits Bristol under the auspices of the India Defence League to make a 'great declaration on India'.
Anthony Eden awarded an honorary degree
Anthony Eden is awarded an honorary degree (LL.D).
Erwin Schrödinger speaks at the University
Nobel Prize-winner Professor Erwin Schrödinger addresses the University Physical Society on 'The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics' and devotes his closing remarks to the recent controversy between himself and Einstein as to whether it is possible to deduce the wave function of one electron by conducting experiments on another.
Female students' 'go-ahead spirit' praised
Miss Shapland, University Registrar, tells the Evening World, that:
'Bristol University women are excellent examples of the "go-ahead spirit" of the female sex in every university in England' and that 'there is no subject read here which is considered an unusual speciality for a woman student'.
She reports on the number of female students studying dentistry, law, maths and medicine and the engineering graduate who now runs her father's engineering works in Gloucestershire.
Bristol scientist creates Ribena
Dr Vernon Charley, a scientist at the University's Long Ashton Agriculture and Horticulture Research, develops Ribena. It was given its name by a Mr S. M. Lennox of Bristol in 1938 and comes from the Latin name for blackcurrant, Ribes Negrum. The now-famous blackcurrant drink provided an important alternative source of vitamin C during the war years when oranges were in scarce supply and it was produced for free distribution to children by the Ministry of Food.
Graduate serves in every branch of the army
Bristol alumnus Lieutenant Colonel R. Irving Dacre becomes the only man to serve in every branch of the British Army over a 32-year period. Starting as a drummer in 2nd Volunteer Battalion East Surrey Regiment he rises to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel R.A.M.C., T.A., attached to 6th Gloucester. Decorated several times, he was mentioned in Despatches in 1918.
Travers discusses neon discovery
In an interview with the Bristol Evening Post, Professor Morris Travers FRS, a Fellow of the University, tells how he and Sir William Ramsay, the second principal of University College, Bristol, discovered neon.
Food-research station established
To offset food shortages and to encourage the preservation of as much home-produced food as possible, the Ministry of Agriculture set up a University research station at Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire. The work was primarily devoted to encouraging home preservation by bottling and drying. Campden tablets, a sulphur-based product still used in wine, cider and beer, originated here.
See how our labs have developed: 1910, 1927, 1930, 1942, 1943, 1950, 1975, 1995 and 1999.
Visitors marvel at scientific displays
On 19 May some 350 representatives of West Country city and council authorities attend an open day of scientific demonstrations and exhibitions. Guests are treated to glass-blowing and x-ray demonstrations, meet a toy dog that answers to its name, and learn how aerial photography is used in map-making.
Students mark Founder's Day
Students walk down Park Street in their academic robes for the University's annual Founder's Day service at Bristol Cathedral.
Steeds and studs
Competitors study the course for the Bristol University equestrian gymkhana in Stoke Bishop.
Botanical Department extended
A new wing is added to the Botanical Department. Bristol Grammar School can be seen in the background.
BBC 'keeps Britain out of bed'
Research by Hilda Jennings and Winifred Gill of the University's Settlement for the BBC, entitled Broadcasting in Everyday Life, shows that 'the BBC keeps Britain out of bed'.
Boxing, Derby Day, variety and plays are the main reasons people stay up late, as are 'special events such as a command performance, a great film star or a tattoo.'
On the whole, the report praises the BBC for 'cheering, comforting and brightening listeners' lives, abolishing loneliness and steadying the nerves'.
London students evacuated to Bristol
Under the terms of the new University and Colleges (Emergency Provisions) Bill, students from King's College London, Middlesex, and Guy's and St Thomas's are evacuated to the University where it is 'business as usual'.
Hilda Wills gives £3,000 to the University
Hilda Wills gives £3,000 to the University for the establishment of a George A. Wills Entrance Scholarship Fund, in memory of her father, the late Sir George Alfred Wills.
Students roll out the barrel
To the strains of the 'Beer Barrel Polka', students from the University and King's College London carry out barrels from George's Brewery for use as props in the Varsity 'Cocktail Revue' at the Victoria Rooms in aid of the Lord Mayor's Hospital Fund.
