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Royal School of Mines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering [1], and Materials [2] at Imperial College London.
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The Royal School of Mines was established in 1851, as the Government School of Mines and Science Applied to the Arts. The School developed from the Museum of Economic Geology, a collection of minerals, maps and mining equipment made by Sir Henry De la Beche, and opened in 1841. The Museum also provided some student places for the study of mineralogy and metallurgy. Sir Henry was the director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, and when the collections outgrew the premises the Museum and the Survey were placed on an official footing, with Government assistance.
The Museum of Practical Geology and the Government School of Mines Applied to the Arts opened in a purpose designed building in Jermyn Street in 1851. The officers of the Geological Survey became the lecturers and professors of the School of Mines. The Royal College of Chemistry was merged into it in 1853. The name was changed in 1863 to the Royal School of Mines, and was moved to South Kensington in 1872, leaving the Museum of Practical Geology behind in Jermyn Street. In 1907, the RSM was incorporated into Imperial College of Science and Technology, but remains a "Constituent College" of Imperial. The last Dean of the Royal School of Mines was Professor John Monhemius before the position was removed.
Today, the RSM no longer exists as an academic entity. The RSM is both the building in which the departments are housed, and the student body that organises social events, sports teams, clubs and societies for students within those departments.
Designed by Sir Aston Webb, the RSM building was erected between 1909 and 1913 specifically to house the Royal School of Mines, which was previously resident in the Huxley Building on Exhibition Road, now the Henry Cole wing of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The RSM was the last of many buildings that Webb designed for the Albertopolis area (including the Cromwell Road frontage of the V&A) and, some would argue, his least resolved. Constructed in Portland stone, the entrance is formed by a three storey, semicircular niche, flanked by large memorials to Alfred Beit and Julius Wernher (P.R. Montford, 1916-1920). The western wing of the building is named after Webb, while the eastern end is named after the Goldsmiths' Company who helped to finance the building of the RSM.
The distinctively Edwardian and academic styling cues used in the building's architecture have led to the RSM appearing in a number of film and television productions:
- 1965: The IPCRESS File Directed by Sydney J Furie and starring Michael Caine. The protagonist walks into the RSM and is magically transported to the old Science Museum Library.
- 1993: Agatha Christie's Poirot (ITV television). Appeared as the frontage and main entrance of "Imperial College" on "Exhibition Road" (although the RSM is on Prince Consort Road, off Exhibition Road) in the episode "The Underdog".
- 2004: Hustle (BBC television). Generic university frontage, briefly seen as an architecture student exits and is then approached by the main characters.
The RSM students union, or "RSM C&SC" as it is now known, has a constitution written in very formal terms that states the RSM exists for:
- The furthering of the interests of the members and the status of the RSM;
- The promotion of sport within the RSM;
- The promotion of interest in all aspects of geology and materials science;
- The promotion of social intercourse among its members.
These are achieved through sports teams, societies and events which span the academic year from October to July. The highlight of the sporting and social calendar is the annual Bottle Match against Camborne School of Mines, the second oldest varsity match in the world[citation needed].
- Thomas Henry Huxley, leading 19th Century geologist and natural philosopher, 'Darwin's Bulldog'
- Henry De la Beche, founder of the British Geological Survey
- William Thomas Blanford, geologist, zoologist and naturalist. Geological Society Wollaston Medallist and President (1888)
- Henry Francis Blanford, meteorologist and palaeontologist. Founding head of the India Meteorological Department
- C. V. Boys, experimental physicist
- George Mercer Dawson (RSM 1869-1873), Director of the Geological Survey of Canada 1895-1901
- Robert Etheridge, Junior, Anglo-Australian palaeontologist
- Sir Aurelian Ridsdale, politician and chairman of the British Red Cross Society, 1912–1914
- Julius Vogel, Prime Minister of New Zealand
- George Reginald Starr, Special Operations Executive officer
- Nick Dommett, Professor of Globalisation, Kings College London
- Professor William Gowland, the Father of Japanese Archaeology
- Howel Williams, leading volcanologist
- Peter Francis, author and volcanologist
- Professor George Patrick Leonard Walker FRS, mineralogist and volcanologist. Geological Society Wollaston Medallist and IAVCEI Thorarinsson Medallist
- Richard Oldham FRS, identified seismic p and s waves and found the first evidence for the Earth’s core. President of Geological Society.
The Royal School of Mines has a high reputation in Geology, Geophysics, Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Materials Science, Petroleum Science and Engineering. Through societies such as the RSM Association and the Chaps Club, the RSM maintains a strong alumni network in the global mining community.