University of Toronto Information
Description:
The University of Toronto is at the heart of the city, near Queen’s Park and the Royal Ontario Museum.The University campus extends from Spadina Road to the west to Queen’s Park Crescent East to the east, College Street and Bloor south to north. More than 40 houses are scattered over a large campus green reminiscent of the British universities of Cambridge or Oxford. With a charter in 1827, the institution will not take off until 1845, however, with the construction of the first house (now demolished).
On March 15, 1827, King’s College, the forerunner of the University of Toronto, was granted a royal charter by King George IV. Religious rivalries slow significantly the evolution of the university, each wanting to create their own educational institution.In the following decade, Toronto will have up to six universities, all small, and it will be a reunification movement in the 1880s to see the campus grow. This probably explains the eclectic style of architecture of the university which has a great melting pot of different styles.
The website of the university gives a very detailed historical overview for each year of its development .Therefore only be mentioned here three important dates in history: the admission of women in 1880, the great fire of 1890 and the student demonstration in 1960.With campuses in Toronto , Mississauga and Scarborough, the university employs over 9,000 people and has over 60,000 students. The library is particularly well known. Today, the University of Toronto is considered one of the most prestigious.
The University is especially renowned for its medical school where Frederick Banting and Charles Best conducted the first research on insulin in the 1920s, and or doctor Norman Bethune was educated. The research is very active, it has been created by the first pacemaker, and we discovered, among others, the gene responsible for some forms of Alzheimer’s disease and cystic fibrosis.In the field of communication, Harold Innis, who has published three major books in the 1950s with The Bias of Communication, is famous for having influenced the work of Marshall McLuhan, that the last contact festival paid homage.
Two beautiful libraries are on campus. First, to the library Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, 120 George St (corner of Harbord), one can see old books and original drafts of Canadian writers who reflect the diversity of research conducted by the university. Second, the university bookstore, located in a large building in 1906 with high ornate ceilings and large windows, is a place where it is pleasant to stroll.
From June to August, tours are offered on campus, the departure takes place at Nona Macdonald Visitors Centre, 25 King’s College Circle. It can also be a self-guided walk through the numerous information plaques that dot the front of the main campus buildings.