July 2009 Recap [GlasgowUniPhoto.com]

Windows and Clouds

Friday, and let’s kick off the shoes and relax a bit. What building on campus do you think this cloudy reflection is from? Give it a go in the comments below.

Give up? Here’s the answer.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

A Window at the Glasgow University Union

If you look closely, you’ll notice three names on the window above: Bishop Turnbull, James II, and Lord Hamilton, along with a year that joins these three individuals, 1451.

The year 1451 was the year the University of Glasgow was founded, in large by these three individuals. King James II suggested the founding of a second University in Scotland some 40 years after the founding of St Andrews. William Turnbull, the Bishop of Glasgow from 1448 to 1454, worked with King James II to found the University in the Glasgow Cathedral buildings, becoming the University’s first Chancellor between 1451 and his death in 1454. Sir James Hamilton, the 1st Baron Hamilton, was instrumental in the early survival and expansion of the University by gifting a tenement of buildings and some ground to the University in an area that remained the site of the main campus until its move to the West End in 1870.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

Fraser Building and Glasgow University Library

The structures on campus which were built in the late 1880s preferred a Neo-Gothic, spirery* look to the buildings, with ornate decorations on all sides.

In the 1950s and 1960s the (unfortunately) preferred look to the buildings was a brutalist use of concrete and brick.

Towards the end of the century and into the next, glass, an aesthetically pleasing material, has thankfully become predominant around the Glasgow University campus.

Pictured here, in shades of blue and green, are the new Fraser Building which opened for students halfway between the 2008/2009 academic year, and the building in the back is the University Library, which hit quite a few branches of the ugly tree on it’s way down, but was mercifully saved from absolute ridicule by having one side be largely made out of glass.

[*spirery -adjective. to possess several spires, typically on the top corners of buildings. Yeah, I made it up.]

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

100th Anniversary of the First Powered Flight in Scotland

Today, July 28th 2009,  marks the 100th Anniversary of the first powered flight in Scotland, by Frank and Harold Barnwell. Frank Barnwell graduated from Glasgow University in 1905 with a BSc in Naval Architecture and Engineering. Although it was Harold (not related to Glasgow University) who actually flew the biplane 80 yards in 1909, let’s give Frank half the credit and call this a University of Glasgow achievement, ok?

This one caught me off guard and I figured it’s important enough to change my preplanned posting order, but, unfortunately I don’t have a single photograph related to Glasgow University and Flight/Planes/Frank Barnwell/etc in my archives, so I decided to mix two similar subjects in one.

So, um, why the Moon?
Well, yeah, I used a photo of the Moon, as it’s the only celestial or flight related object around the University that I had a photo of, but it is related to Glasgow University as the ornament in the way is the top part of one of the spires of the Main Building of the University.

The link between the Moon and Glasgow University is calendar-wise July 20th 1969, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon (which was last week), and a 2006 project at Glasgow University to study the maths and feasibility of using a kind of a slingshot to fling materials and supplies to the Moon. No, seriously.

You can read the entire press release about this 100th anniversary of the first powered flight in Scotland from the Glasgow University website.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

University Tower Reflected on the Wolfson Medical School Building

This week I’ll try to focus on windows and reflections to contrast the numerous old and new brick and concrete buildings. The abundance of glass around the campus on the buildings is a welcome contrast to the 19th century neo-gothic architecture and the 1960’s brutalist concrete buildings like the Boyd Orr Building, visible just to the right side there.

A few things to note about this photo. First, this was taken on September 22nd 2008, on my way to the very first lecture of my academic career at the University of Glasgow (Sociology, Anthropology and Applied Sciences 1A, in the Joseph Black Building). Secondly, the University Tower is reflected on the side of the Wolfson Medical School Building. Running across this photo in my archives I noticed that I haven’t attempted at playing with taking photos of reflections and whatnot with this building at all, besides this building.

Note to self: Take camera to Wolfson Medical School Building, play with reflections, attempt to get some great shots.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

Hunterian Zoology Museum [Museum Week]

Stepping out of the Main Building and the main Hunterian Museum, we have the Graham Kerr Building close by. Sir John Graham Kerr was named Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Glasgow in 1902. This title was renamed Regius Professor of Zoology the following year.

The Zoology wing of the Hunterian Museum is located within the Graham Kerr Building, which is open to the public. In addition, the students of Zoology use the museum space for research and teaching, as well as independent study, as you can tell by the photo (taken a few weeks before spring exams last academic year).

More information on the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery can be found at http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/, as well as its supplementary Facebook Page, Flickr Group, and on Twitter.
This post is a part of Museum Week (July 20th – 26th)

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
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© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com