- George Birkbeck
George Birkbeck (
10 January 1776 –1 December 1841 ) was a British doctor,academic ,philanthropist , an early pioneer inadult education and founder of Birkbeck College.Born to a
Quaker family inSettle ,North Yorkshire , Birkbeck went toSedbergh School and then completed his training as a doctor inEdinburgh in 1799. Before practising as a physician, however, he initially embarked on an academic career, being appointed professor of natural philosophy at the Andersonian Institution, which later became theUniversity of Strathclyde inGlasgow .After mechanics started asking questions about the apparatus he used in his lectures, he had the idea of holding free, public lectures on the 'mechanical arts' (c 1800-1804). These Saturday evening events proved very popular and continued after his departure to
London , leading to the formation in 1821 of the first Mechanics' Institute in Glasgow.Working as a doctor in London, Birkbeck, with others, established the London Mechanics Institute in November 1823 - of which he was the first President. The Mechanics Institute concept was quickly adopted in numerous other cities and towns across the UK and overseas, but his association with the ground-breaking London institution was marked by it being renamed the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution in 1866 (now, as Birkbeck College, part of the
University of London ).He also helped create the first
chemistry laboratory for undergraduates atUniversity College London , and was head of the short-livedLondon Chemical Society of the 1820s.He died in 1841 and was buried in
Kensal Green Cemetery , London. A monument is also to be found in St Akelda's church inGiggleswick , near his birthplace in Settle.
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