University of AberdeenThe University of Aberdeen (University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as Aberd. in post-nominals; Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Alexander VI on behalf of James IV, King of Scots to establish King's College, making it one of Scotland's four ancient universities and the fifth-oldest university in the English-speaking world.
University courtA university court is an administrative body of a university in the United Kingdom. In England's Oxbridge such a court carries out limited judicial functions; whereas in Scotland it is a university's supreme governing body, analogous to a board of directors or a board of trustees. In the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge, courts of inferior jurisdiction, administering principles of justice founded on the canon and civil law, but later defined and limited by the common law.
James Clerk MaxwellJames Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish physicist with broad interests and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism have been called the "second great unification in physics" where the first one had been realised by Isaac Newton.
James BoswellJames Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (ˈbɒzwɛl,_-wəl; 29 October 1740 (N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary, the English writer Samuel Johnson, which is commonly said to be the greatest biography written in the English language. A great mass of Boswell's diaries, letters, and private papers were recovered from the 1920s to the 1950s, and their ongoing publication by Yale University has transformed his reputation.
Rector (academia)A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a university, whilst in the United States the most senior official is often referred to as president and in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations the most senior official is the chancellor, whose office is primarily ceremonial and titular.
Scottish EnlightenmentThe Scottish Enlightenment (Scots Enlichtenment, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century, Scotland had a network of parish schools in the Scottish Lowlands and five universities. The Enlightenment culture was based on close readings of new books, and intense discussions which took place daily at such intellectual gathering places in Edinburgh as The Select Society and, later, The Poker Club, as well as within Scotland's ancient universities (St Andrews, Glasgow, Edinburgh, King's College, and Marischal College).
ThistleThistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the plant - on the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. These prickles are an adaptation that protects the plant from being eaten by herbivores. Typically, an involucre with a clasping shape similar to a cup or urn subtends each of a thistle's flower heads. The typically feathery pappus of a ripe thistle flower is known as thistle-down.
Robert BurnsRobert Burns (25 January 1759 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect" of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.
Scottish ReformationThe Scottish Reformation was the process by which Scotland broke with the Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterian in its outlook. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation that took place from the sixteenth century. From the late fifteenth century the ideas of Renaissance humanism, critical of aspects of the established Catholic Church, began to reach Scotland, particularly through contacts between Scottish and continental scholars.
GlasgowGlasgow (UKˈɡlɑːzɡoʊ,_ˈɡlæz-,_ˈɡlɑːs-,_ˈɡlæs- ; Glesca ˈɡleskə or Glesga ˈɡlezɡə; Glaschu ˈkl̪ɣas̪əxu) is the most populous city in Scotland and the third-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated metro population of 1,861,315, The city was made a county of itself in 1893, prior to which it had been in the historic county of Lanarkshire. The city now forms the Glasgow City Council area, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and is administered by Glasgow City Council.
