Edinburgh’s influence
The largest ever programme of school building
and refurbishment in the city’s history is well underway in
Edinburgh. This will see 56% of the city’s secondary schools
rebuilt or refurbished by 2010, along with 21% of the primary
schools and 43% of special schools. This will help to ‘future
proof’ Edinburgh’s influence in the years to come.
Edinburgh has a rich history in education,
establishing the first Scottish civic university ‘Townis College’
in 1583. The city’s colleges and universities have supported many
famous sons and daughters over the years:
- Charles Darwin, author of ‘Origin of the
Species,’ studied medicine at The University of Edinburgh from 1825
to 1827
- Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), novelist, poet,
historian, father of the historical novel, graduate of The
University of Edinburgh and one of the founding fathers of the
Edinburgh Academy
- Former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was
educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh
- Sir Sean Connery was born and brought up in
the Fountainbridge area of the city. He donated his $1,000,000 fee
from ‘Diamonds are Forever’ (1971) in order to co-found the
Scottish International Education Trust
- Ian Rankin, the acclaimed crime fiction
writer, graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: author and creator of
Sherlock Holmes and medical graduate of the University of
Edinburgh
- Professor Bill Hardcastle, an award winning
researcher from Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, who developed
speech disorder therapeutic technology
- Fraser Stoddart received his BSc (1964) and
PhD (1966) degrees from the University of Edinburgh. He was one of
the few chemists of the past quarter of a century to have created a
new field of organic chemistry
- Lord Joseph Lister founded antiseptic
medicine and was a Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University
of Edinburgh.
