Research
A history of research at Oxford, 1100–2010
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| 1175 Edmund Rich (born 1175) lectures on Aristotle. |
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| 1200 Teaching begins at Oxford during the 12th century. |
| c.1220–92 Roger Bacon studies chemistry, astronomy and mathematics and discovers the magnifying glass. |
 1224Robert Grosseteste, Rector of the Franciscans, becomes Master of the Oxford Schools. |
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 1328 Thomas Bradwardine (Merton) publishes his Treatise on Proportions. By 1350 he and the other ‘Merton calculators’, William Heytesbury and Richard Swineshead, develop a quantitative approach to scholastic philosophy, unsurpassed until the 17th century. |
| c.1330–84 John Wyclif founds the Lollard religious reform movement and instigates the first complete translation of the Bible into English. |
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| 1478 Oxford’s first printing press established. |
 1489 Duke Humfrey’s Library opens. |
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| 1518 Thomas Linacre, Fellow of All Souls, founds the Royal College of Physicians in London and later two readerships in medicine at Oxford. |
 1525 The master of polyphony John Taverner is appointed to Cardinal College (later Christ Church). |
| 1546 Henry VIII founds Regius Professorships in Divinity, Civil Law, Medicine, Greek and Hebrew. |
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 1602 Bodleian Library opens. |
 1621 The University Botanic Garden (the first botanic garden in England) is founded by the Earl of Danby. |
| 1640–60 William Harvey, Christopher Wren, Thomas Willis, Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke conduct meetings and experiments with John Wilkins, Warden of Wadham. This group forms the nucleus of the Royal Society of London, founded in 1660. |
 1660 John Locke (Christ Church) begins to draft his influential writings on political philosophy. |
 1662 Robert Boyle publishes his law relating the volume and pressure of gas. |
 1683 Ashmolean Museum founded in Broad Street to support the pursuit of ‘natural knowledge’ under Keeper and Professor of Chemistry Robert Plot. |
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 1704 Edmund Halley becomes Savilian Professor of Geometry, and the following year accurately predicts the return of a comet in 1758. |
 1729 John Wesley (Lincoln) and his brother Charles (Christ Church) establish through their teachings the foundations of the Methodist Church. |
 1770 The Radcliffe Infirmary opens: two years later the Radcliffe Observatory is founded from physician John Radcliffe’s legacy. |
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| 1823 Oxford Union Debating Society founded. |
 1824 William Buckland (Corpus, Christ Church) describes the first complete dinosaur skeleton. |
| 1833 John Keble inspires the ‘Oxford Movement’, later led by John Henry Newman (Trinity). |
The Taylor Institution Library opens as a centre for the study of modern European languages and literatures. |
 1850 Honour Schools of Natural Science founded, and in 1860 University Museum of Natural History opens, both thanks to Sir Henry Acland, Regius Professor of Medicine from 1857. |
 1858 John Murray begins work on the Oxford English Dictionary: first volume published in 1879. |
| 1860 Debate on evolution between Bishop Samuel Wilberforce and T H Huxley takes place in the University Museum. |
 1865 Charles Dodgson/Lewis Carroll (Christ Church) publishes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. |
 1869 Art historian John Ruskin becomes the first Slade Professor of Fine Art. |
| 1885 First volume of the Dictionary of National Biography published. |
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 1904 William Osler appointed to Regius Chair of Medicine and modernises medical training. |
 1922Heberden collection of Greek and Roman coins established at Ashmolean Museum. |
| 1925 J R R Tolkien (below)appointed to Rawlinson and Bosworth Chair of Anglo-Saxon, and soon after founds the Inklings with C S Lewis. |
| 1925 William Hume-Rothery (Magdalen) begins studies that establish the field of scientific metallurgy. |
| 1936 Positivist philosopher A J Ayer, later Wykeham Professor of Logic, publishes Language, Truth and Logic. |
| 1932 Sir Charles Sherrington (Magdalen) wins Nobel Prize for Medicine for his studies of the nervous system. |
| 1933 Refugee physicist Franz Simon (later Christ Church) establishes low-temperature physics laboratory, and subsequently works with Nicholas Kurti on the Manhattan Project (the effort of the USA, Canada and the UK to develop the first nuclear bomb). |
 1940 Howard Florey (Lincoln) and colleagues demonstrate antibacterial effects of penicillin. He and Ernst Chain share the 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine. |
| 1944 G D H Cole appointed first Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory: publishes on the cooperative movement and the British working class. |
| 1947 Robert Robinson (Magdalen) wins Nobel Prize for Chemistry for chemical structure of plant products such as quinine. |
| 1947 Hugh Trevor-Roper, later Regius Professor of History, publishes The Last Days of Hitler. |
 1951 Nevill Coghill (Exeter, Magdalen) publishes modern translation of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. |
 1956 Beazley Archive of Classical Art and Archaeology established at Ashmolean Museum. |
| 1956 W H Auden (Christ Church) becomes Professor of Poetry. |
| 1956 Cyril Hinshelwood (Exeter) wins Nobel Prize for Chemistry for mechanism of chemical reactions. |
| 1959 Martin and Audrey Wood found Oxford Instruments, Oxford University’s first spin-out company, which becomes world leader in superconducting magnets. |
 1964 Dorothy Hodgkin (Somerville) wins Nobel Prize for Chemistry for her crystallographic studies of large molecules. |
| 1967 Rodney Porter (Trinity) discovers how antibodies fight infection and wins the 1972 Nobel Prize for Medicine. |
 1950s–60s Nikolaas Tinbergen (Wolfson) develops the science of ethology, for which he shares the Nobel Prize in 1973. |
 1969 Richard Doll (Magdalen, Green) appointed Regius Professor of Medicine: his studies show that smokers are three times more likely to suffer premature death. |
| 1970s Roger Penrose (Wadham) develops mathematical basis of the theory of black holes. |
| 1996 Queen’s Anniversary Award for Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, founded in 1988. |
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| 2000 Queen’s Anniversary Award for Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine. |
| 2002 The Refugee Studies Centre, part of the Oxford Department of International Development, wins the Queen's Anniversary Prize. |
| 2005 Professor Sir Ed Southern, Whitley Professor of Biochemistry and a Fellow of Trinity College, wins a Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research. The Clinical Trial Service Unit, a world renowned research institute within the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, wins the Queen's Anniversary Prize. Founding of the James Martin 21st Century School to tackle 21st global challenges. |
| 2007 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, published by Oxford University Press, wins the Queen's Anniversary Prize. |
| 2009 John Boardman wins the 2009 Onassis Prize for Humanities. Professor Terence Cave is awarded the International Balzan Prize for his research on 'literature since 1500'. |
| 2010 Professor Peter Ratcliffe and Professor Nick White are named winners of Canada Gairdner Awards for 2010. |
| 2013 Isis Innovation celebrate their 100th spin-out company. |
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