1950
Cecil Frank Powell wins the Nobel Prize for Physics
Cecil Frank Powell, who joined the University in 1927, receives the Nobel Prize in Physics. Presenting the award, Professor A. E. Lindh of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said:
'I need not stress the extraordinary importance of your discoveries for research in nuclear physics, more particularly for our concept of nuclear energy and our knowledge of cosmic radiation. I only wish to give expression to the sincere admiration and respect we physicists feel for your eminent work through which, in pursuance of great British traditions, you have enriched our field of knowledge with results of the greatest scientific value.'
Scientists in the Physics Laboratory
Scientists hard at work in the workshop of the H. H. Wills Physics Building.
See how our labs have developed: 1910, 1927, 1930, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1975, 1995 and 1999.
Churchill lays foundation stone for Queen's Building
Winston Churchill, the then Chancellor of the University, lays the foundation stone for the Queen's Building, now home to the Faculty of Engineering and the Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering (BLADE).
Read more about Churchill in the following years: 1929, 1929 (two entries), 1941, 1945, 1949, 1953 and 1954,
Student RAG week
Students come out in force (and in costume) to raise money for charity during RAG week. 'Raising and Giving' (RAG) is the charity fundraising arm of the University of Bristol Union and the largest and oldest society in the Union.
New veterinary labs opened
Four years after the Veterinary School is inaugurated at Park Row by the Rt Hon Tom Williams, the Minister for Agriculture opens the School's clinical field station at Langford, North Somerset. Based some 15 miles southwest of Bristol, on the edge of the Mendips, the Department occupies the property and grounds of Langford House, which was developed as a farming estate in 1877 by Simon Hill. It remained in the ownership of the Hill family until 1944, when it was purchased by the Commissioners of Crown Lands. It was subsequently acquired by the University for development as a veterinary field station and is where veterinary students spend their last two (clinical) years.
Churchill wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
On 10 December, Sir Winston Churchill, third Chancellor of the University, receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. In his presentation speech, Sigfrid Siwertz of the Swedish Academy said:
'Very seldom have great statesmen and warriors also been great writers. One thinks of Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, and even Napoleon, whose letters to Josephine during the first Italian campaign certainly have passion and splendour. Churchill's political and literary achievements are of such magnitude that one is tempted to resort to portray him as a Caesar who also has the gift of Cicero's pen. Never before has one of history's leading figures been so close to us by virtue of such an outstanding combination. A literary prize is intended to cast lustre over the author, but here it is the author who gives lustre to the prize.'
Read more about Churchill in the following years: 1929, 1929 (N.B. two entries), 1941, 1945, 1949, 1951 and 1954,
Churchill visits the University
Churchill is greeted by welcoming crowds at Temple Meads train station on a visit to the University to confer honorary degrees. Later he addresses the press and the assembled crowd on the steps of the Wills Memorial Building.
Read more about Churchill in the following years: 1929, 1929 (N.B. two entries), 1941, 1945, 1949, 1951 and 1953,
Engineering moves to new premises
The Faculty of Engineering begins to make the transition from its Unity Street premises to its new purpose-built building, now known as the Queen's Building, after its opening by Queen Elizabeth II on 5 December 1958.
Drama's national profile grows
Founded as a discipline in 1946, drama grows in size and reputation under the direction of Glynne Wickham. Productions in its studio theatre in the Wills Memorial Building between 1951 and 1967 attract national attention and the University's lead in establishing drama as a discipline is followed by other universities. Within the University, the existence of the Department stimulates an interest in drama as performance in other departments, notably Classics and modern languages.
Student RAG float
Students on a Wills Hall float, featuring the crest and motto of the Wills family, often translated as 'for hearth and home'.
Find out how RAG week looked in 1941, 1961 and 2001.
Engineering opened by Queen Elizabeth II
The new Faculty of Engineering building is opened by Queen Elizabeth II and thereafter is known as the Queen's Building. At the opening, a tablet is installed to mark the long-standing support of the Society of Merchant Venturers to the Faculty. In 1909, when the University received its Royal Charter, the Merchant Venturers' Technical College engineering department became the Faculty of Engineering.
It's a vet's life
A vet at work with a horse at the Vet School. The School now has a first-year intake of some 120 veterinary students a year, an almost fourfold increase in numbers since it opened in 1951.
Life in Churchill Hall
Named in honour of Sir Winston Churchill, then Chancellor of the University, Churchill Hall first opened as a hall of residence in 1959. New buildings were added throughout the 1950s, with four more added in 1980. The whole Hall is built on land previously owned by the Manor House of Stoke Bishop (now Trinity Theological College). The Hall is close to the University's Botanic Gardens and The Holmes, which served as the HQ of the American General Staff prior to the liberation of Europe. Photographs of the staff and a letter from Dwight D. Eisenhower can still be seen there.
See how hall life has changed: 1949, 1961, 1962, 1994 and 1998.
Senate House built
Senate House, the University's administrative centre, is built on the former site of the Botanic Garden, then known as the Hiatt Baker Garden, when the Garden moves to Bracken Hill. In 2002, the Garden moves again, to its current location in The Holmes at Stoke Bishop.