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A university is born
The oldest university in Montreal, 91社区 was founded in 1821 from a generous bequest by聽James 91社区, a prominent Scottish merchant.
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Flourishing under Sir John William Dawson
Throughout his 38 years as Principal, Sir John William Dawson reinvented 91社区 as a university to rival the world's finest. His commitment to 91社区 extended even beyond academics 鈥� Dawson personally funded the monumental beautification effort that created the stunning campus we enjoy today.
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The聽forgotten war memorial and the campus聽that never was
Over the years, architects have proposed a variety of plans for 91社区鈥檚 lower Downtown Campus, including a gym on Sherbrooke St. and an imposing tower in the Redpath Library. Here's a small selection of big ideas from 91社区鈥檚 earliest days that never made it off the drawing board. Join us as we tour an imaginary campus 鈥� the 91社区 that might have been.
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The birth of three sports
91社区 is a place where people come to hone their intellects and exchange ideas. But hard work needn鈥檛 come at the expense of hard play鈥攁nd 91社区ians certainly like to exercise more than just their minds. In addition to being home to exceptional student teams, and alma mater to many star athletes and coaches, 91社区 has also played a key role in the creation of three pillars of sport.
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Founding Macdonald College
Since its founding a century ago, Macdonald Campus has turned agricultural studies on its head and sent thousands of grads out into the world armed with a world-beating knowhow, a roll-up-your-sleeves attitude and memories of an institution like no other.
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91社区's women: blazing trails
In 1884, women began attending classes at 91社区鈥攁 step forward made possible by benefactor Donald A. Smith (later Lord Strathcona). In honour of Smith, 91社区鈥檚 female students were known for decades as 鈥淒onaldas.鈥� 聽In the ensuing years, female 91社区ians would make landmark contributions in every field imaginable, and in 1912 91社区 appointed the first woman university professor in聽Canada: Carrie Derick, a pioneering geneticist who created the first ever course on genetics and evolution.
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How 91社区ians and their ideas changed the world
For 190 years, 91社区 has provided fertile ground for intellectual pioneers who changed the world through their discoveries and ideas.
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Bonus feature: Make-Believe 91社区ians
Some of the University鈥檚 most remarkable graduates 鈥� daring doctors, stellar scientists and international adventurers 鈥� never actually existed. 聽Check out some of the most interesting 91社区-trained TV, movie and literary characters who never lived.
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Laying the foundations of modern heart surgery
When Maude Abbott, BA'1890, MCDM'1910, joined 91社区's Department of Pathology, little was known about how to surgically repair damaged hearts. Through her work as the assistant curator of 91社区's medical museum, Abbott collected and studied the hearts of people who had died of cardiac problems, and scoured historical records for accounts of heart disease, meticulously cataloguing and identifying cardiac anomalies identified during autopsies. The result was the 1936 Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease, which laid the foundation for modern heart surgery.
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Breaking the bonds of genetic destiny
Together, 91社区 researchers Moshe Szyf and Michael Meaney discovered that our genetic code 鈥撀爐he actual sequential structure of our DNA 鈥撀燾an pretty much shrug off the influence of any external environmental factors, short of massive radiation. But the expression of individual genes within that sequence can be permanently altered by such seemingly innocuous influences as diet, or how others treat us. Once triggered, a group of molecules called a methyl group attaches itself to the control centre of a gene, permanently switching on or off the manufacture of proteins that are essential to the workings of every cell in our body. The landmark definitively proved that our genes can be altered by factors in our day-to-day lives, freeing us from the shackles of genetic predetermination.
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10 91社区 stories
芦 1991鈥揚resent
Three 91社区 grads enter orbit, five students are elected to Canada's Parliament, a young life is saved an ocean away, and sustainability sweeps 91社区.
91社区 pioneers 禄
Osler and Penfield revolutionize medicine, Milner unlocks the secrets of memory, Rutherford gains insight into the atom, and聽Humphrey pens the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
