Merton College, Oxford facts for kids
Merton College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, who was the Chancellor to Henry III and Edward I. It claims to be the oldest college in Oxford, although Balliol College and University College also claim to be the oldest.
Construction of the college at its present location began in the 1270s. Its buildings are among the oldest in Oxford. Mob Quad at Merton College was built in the 14th Century. It is often said to be the oldest quadrangle at Oxford or Cambridge. Other quadrangles at Oxford and Cambridge, however, may be older.
J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor of English Language and Literature at Merton College.
Images for kids
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Merton College Chapel from just north of the Christ Church Meadow
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William of Ockham, major figure of medieval thought, commonly known for Occam's razor
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John Wycliffe, early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century
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Thomas Bodley, diplomat, scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library
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William Harvey, the first to describe in detail the systemic circulation
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José Gutiérrez Guerra, President of Bolivia between 1917 and 1920
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Lord Randolph Churchill, British statesman, father of Winston Churchill
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F.E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, Conservative statesman and friend of Winston Churchill
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Francis Herbert Bradley, British idealist philosopher
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Frederick Soddy, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1921
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Nikolaas Tinbergen, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973
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Anthony James Leggett, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003
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Wilder Penfield, neurosurgeon, once dubbed "the greatest living Canadian".
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Andrew Wiles, mathematician notable for proving Fermat's Last Theorem. Winner of the 2016 Abel Prize
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Dana Scott, computer scientist known for his work on automata theory and winner of the 1976 Turing Award
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Tony Hoare, computer scientist known for Quicksort, Hoare logic and CSP. Winner of the 1980 Turing Award
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Alec Jeffreys, geneticist known for his work on DNA fingerprinting and DNA profiling
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T. S. Eliot, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948
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J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion
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Andrew Irvine, English mountaineer who took part in the 1924 British Everest Expedition
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Roger Bannister, former athlete, doctor and academic, who ran the first sub-four-minute mile
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Bob Krueger, former U.S. Senator from Texas
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Arthur Mutambara, Zimbabwean politician and former Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
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Howard Stringer, former CEO of Sony Corporation
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Liz Truss, British politician serving as Secretary of State for International Trade
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Ulrike Tillmann, mathematician specializing in algebraic topology
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Princess Akiko of Mikasa, member of the Imperial House of Japan
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Leana Wen, Rhodes Scholar, physician, and writer
