McGill University
McGill University, established in 1821, is located in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has long been considered to be the most prestigious place of higher learning in Canada and among the finest in North America. McGill is well-known for pioneering research in the medical sciences, chemistry, physics and biology, though it is also famous for it's high standard of undergraduate education and has an established history in the humanities, social sciences, law and physical education. In fact, a little known fact is that the inventions of hockey, basketball and North American football are all related to McGill in some way.
McGill derives alot of it's academic strength from the diversity of its student body. McGill has the highest percentage of American students than any other Canadian university as well as having students from over 150 countries. In fact, 22% of students at McGill speak French as their first language.
McGill boasts six Nobel laureates including (Ernest Rutherford) and two Canadian prime ministers. Some famous alumni and professors include:
- Charles Taylor (philosophy)
- Steven Pinker (cognitive psychology)
- Henry Mintzberg (business)
- Wilder Penfield (neurosurgery)
- Ronald Melzack (medicine - developed the McGill Pain Questionnaire, used around the world)
- William Osler (medicine), developed the modern form of a doctor's bedside manner
- William Shatner (lead actor in Star Trek:TOS)
- John Ralston Saul (Governor-General's-Award-winning philosophical author)
- Lorne Trottier (founder of Matrox Graphics)
- Livio "Desi" Desimone (former CEO of St Paul-based 3M Corporation)
- Richard Pound (former International Olympics Council vice president)
- Conrad Black (media tycoon, owner of 650 dailies/weeklies around the world, including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post, and the London Daily Telegraph)
- Jake Eberts (producer of "Gandhi", "Chariots of Fire")
- Seymour Schulich (investments - benefactor to the Schulich School of business , York University)
- Harold Shapiro (education - former president of Princeton University)
- Sir Wilfrid Laurier - Prime Minister of Canada
- John Abbott - First Canadian prime minister to be born in Canada.
- Burt Bacharach - Musician
- James Naismith - Inventor of basketball
- John Humphrey - Co-writer of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- John McCrae - Poet, writer of famous Canadian poem "In Flanders' Fields"
- Hugh MacLennan - Canadian writer (Two Solitudes, Barometer Rising)
- Stephen Leacock - Humorist and economist
- Ernest Rutherford - Physicist
Fast Facts- Established: 1821; Location: Main campus, downtown Montreal at the foot of Mont Royal. Agricultural studies campus in St. Anne-de-Bellevue, suburban Montreal; Language of Instruction: English; Symbol: Martlet; Motto: Grandescunt Aucta Labore (By work, all things grow); Sports team names: Martlet (Women), Redmen (Men); Population: 28 000, includes full and part-time, graduate and undergraduate students.;
Interesting Facts- -First non-denominational university in the British Empire; -The first international game of North American football was played between McGill and Harvard Universities in 1874; -During WWII, the International Labour Organization was headquartered at McGill;