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.
History
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.
The
building
Royal School of Mines entrance and the Goldsmiths' wing, Prince
Consort Road, London.
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
building in film
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:
RSM
Student's Union
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 rugby varsity match in the world.
Notable past students and
professors
- James Allen, New Zealand
politician and diplomat.
- Sir Henry De la Beche FRS, founder of the
British Geological
Survey.
- Peter Baxendell, former Managing Director of Shell.
- Henry Francis Blanford,
meteorologist and palaeontologist. Founding head of the India Meteorological
Department.
- William Thomas Blanford CIE FRS, geologist, zoologist and naturalist.
Geological Society Wollaston
Medallist and President (1888).
- Henry Yorke Lyell Brown,
Australian exploration geologist, noted for his work in Western
Australia.
- Sir C. V. Boys FRS, experimental
physicist.
- Edmund
Daukoru, Minister of Energy for Nigeria and former OPEC President (2006).
- Sir Edgeworth David FRS, Welsh-born
Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer who led the first
expedition to reach the Magnetic South
Pole.
- George E.
Davis, pioneer in the field of chemical engineering.
- George Mercer Dawson, Director of
the Geological Survey of Canada
(1895-1901).
- Nick Dommett, Professor of Globalisation, King's College London.
- Robert Etheridge, Junior,
Anglo-Australian palaeontologist.
- Andy
Fanshawe, mountaineer.
- Peter
Francis, author and volcanologist.
- Sir Edward
Frankland FRS, leading chemist and originator of
the concept of valency.
- Percy
Gilchrist, British chemist and metallurgist who devised a
standard method of making steel, with his cousin Sidney Gilchrist Thomas.
- Professor William Gowland FRS, British mining
engineer and archaeologist. Known as the Father of Japanese
Archaeology.
- Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas in the Sultanate of Oman.
- Frank
Hawthorne OC FRSC, Canadian mineralogist and
crystallographer. Geological Association of
Canada Logan
Medallist.
- Arthur
Holmes, British geologist and pioneer of radiometric
rock dating. Geological
Society Wollaston Medallist and Geological Society of
America Penrose
Medallist.
- Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS, Professor of Natural History
1854–1885. Comparative anatomist; 'Darwin's Bulldog', author of
Man's place in nature.
- John
Wesley Judd, President of the Geological
Society (1886-1888).
- Jeremy
Leggett, social entrepreneur and author.
- Archibald Liversidge FRS, English-born
Australian chemist, founder of the Australasian Association for the
Advancement of Science.
- Rilwanu
Lukman KBE, former Secretary
General of OPEC.
- Lady Rachel MacRobert, philanthropist and founder of the
MacRobert Trust.
- Sir Roderick Murchison KCB FRS, Scottish
geologist who first described and investigated the Silurian system. Royal Society Copley Medallist and
Geological Society Wollaston
Medallist.
- Richard Dixon Oldham FRS, Irish geologst
who first identified seismic p- and s-waves and found the first
evidence for the Earth’s core. President of the
Geological Society (1920-1922).
- Sir Andrew
Ramsay FRS,
Scottish geologist and glaciologist. Geological
Society Wollaston Medallist and President
(1872).
- John
Graham Ramsay, British structural geologist. Geological Society Wollaston
Medallist.
- Sir Aurelian Ridsdale, politician and
chairman of the British Red
Cross Society (1912–1914).
- Herbert Harold Read, British
geologist who performed much work on the origins of granite. Geological Society Wollaston
Medallist.
- Professor John A. S. Ritson OBE DSO, international rugby
player (England and the British Lions), decorated
soldier, and mining engineer.
- Professor Douglas Shearman, British sedimentologist. Geological Society Wollaston
Medallist.
- Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth FRS, President of
the Geological Society (1866-1868).
- William Johnson Sollas FRS, geologist and
anthropologist. President of the Geological
Society (1908-1910).
- George Reginald Starr DSO MC, mining
engineer and Special Operations
Executive officer.
- Ralph Tate,
British-born Australian botanist and geologist. President of the Royal Society of South
Australia (1878-1879).
- Sir Julius
Vogel, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1873-1875).
- Professor George Patrick Leonard
Walker FRS,
mineralogist and volcanologist. Geological
Society Wollaston Medallist and
IAVCEI Thorarinsson Medallist.
- Professor Janet Watson FRS, igneous and metamorphic petrologist.
First female President of the Geological
Society (1982-1984).
- Sir Julius
Wernher, German-born Randlord and art collector.
- Howel
Williams, leading volcanologist.
Reputation
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.
External
links
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