Visit to Cambridge University

Rashmi Narayanswamy

This summer we visited the glorious University of Cambridge, one of the worlds oldest universities and a self-governed community of scholars. This university is rich in history attracting visitors from all over the world and the University museums, library and collections hold many treasures, which enlightens us about the academic pursuits of University scholars and students. The university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge that was formed in 1209 by scholars who left Oxford after a dispute with the townsfolk. Our first alight at the Cambridge station filled us with awe as we found ourself in a self-contained town grown up very beautifully around the River Cam or Granta, from which the town took its name. The first view of the magnificent buildings rising above the River Camp was breath taking, with its wide paved roads motored by only tourist buses, few cabs and a large number of cyclists. The tour started at the Senate House which is mainly used for degree ceremonies, Kings and Queens College, which mainly run undergraduate courses. The university has traditionally maintained a strong emphasis on applied mathematics, which is compulsory for any graduation course and the exam earned itself a name called Tripos. The Cambridge Mathematical Tripos was competitive and helped produce some of the most famous names in British science like Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin and Lord Rayleigh. Cambridge today maintains its strength in mathematics and many important scientific discoveries and revolutions were made by Cambridge alumni like the laws of motion by Issac Newton, the development of Thermodynamics by Lord Kelvin, the discovery of the electron by J.J. Thomson and the theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin and others. Initially only male students were enrolled but later the women came with a strong bastion with the establishment of Girton College, Newnham College, Hughes Hall, New Hall, Lucy Cavendish College, Queens college and others. The gothic architecture of each building with tall spires of churches was eye catching. The Mathematical Bridge over the river Cam at Queens College and punting on the river Camp was completely out of this world. The beautiful English countryside with a host of blooming yellow Daffodils, bright red Tulips, green carpeted grass, ducks swimming in the river, the environment made us long to lie down and savor the beauty. Cambridge is a collegiate university with its self- governing and independent colleges, each with its own property and income. Most colleges bring together academics and students from a broad range of disciplines. Cambridge has 31 colleges, of which three- Murray Edwards, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish admit women only. The university is made up of over 150 departments, faculties, schools, syndicates and other institutions. A school in the University of Cambridge is a broad administrative grouping of related faculties and other units and there are six such schools- Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Technology. We visited the church which was round in shape, a unique architectural marvel and visited the bookstores and the city centre square. This university can be considered as the birthplace of the computer, with mathematician Charles Babbage having designed the worlds first computing system in the mid 1800s. English literature holds many a reference to the buildings at Cambridge like The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer where the two main characters are students at Soler Halle. It is believed that this refers to Kings Hall, which is part of Trinity College. In Pride and Prejudice, a novel by Jane Austen, both Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, the primary antagonist, are Cambridge graduates. We also visited the /Cambridge University Library which is the centrally administered library and comprises five separate libraries like the University Library main building, the Medical library, the Betty and Gordon Moore Library, the Central Science library and the Squire Law library. Our lovely trip was even made more memorable by punting, or rowing over the Camp river and catching up with the beautiful sights from the river bed. Could one not study in such a conducive atmosphere? Like Wordsworth I might say: For oft, when on my couch I lie, in vacant or in pensive mood,

they flash upon that inward eye, Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.