University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public research university founded in 1853, the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Australia.

The founding of the university by the State of Victoria was facilitated by the discovery of gold in 1851, and the ensuing “Victorian Gold Rush.”

In some years, the Victorian gold fields were second in output worldwide only to California’s. Hence, the State of Victoria became quite prosperous, attracting immigrants from all over the world. The state-financed University of Melbourne also grew quickly and soon achieved a remarkable degree of academic excellence.

In 1857, a Law School was opened; in 1861, a Faculty of Engineering; and in 1862, a School of Medicine.

Today, Melbourne comprises seven campuses, with a total student body numbering about 52,000. With an endowment of approximately A$1.3 billion, Melbourne remains the wealthiest university in Australia.

Melbourne is associated with seven Nobel laureates, namely:

• Bacterial geneticist, Joshua Lederberg
• Molecular biologist, Elizabeth Blackburn
• Neuroscientist, John Eccles
• Immunologists, Macfarlane Burnet & Peter Doherty
• Economists, James Mirrlees & Clive Granger

Other Melbourne–linked individuals include the following:

• Philosophers Samuel Alexander, Peter Singer, Frank Jackson, Graham Priest, Graham Oppy, Brian O’Shaughnessy & David Oderberg
• Mathematicians, Keith Briggs, Jonathan Pila, Ian Sloan, Danny Calegari, Edward Nanson, Joachim Rubinstein, Brendan McKay & Alison Harcourt
• Computer scientists, Andrew Freeman & Samuel Braunstein
• Painter, Lewis Miller
• Popular singer and songwriter, Judith Durham
• Film directors, Gillian Armstrong & George Miller
• Actors, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Isabel Lucas, Elizabeth Debicki, Jason Clarke & Nadia Townsend
• Comedians, Hamish Blake & Andy Lee
• Feminist activist and essayist, Germaine Greer
• Architect, Roy Grounds
• Roman Catholic Cardinal, George Pell
• Astronomers, Fulvio Melia & Wilbur Christiansen
• Physicists, Leslie Martin, Kerr Grant, Richard Dalitz, Helen Quinn, Harry Massie & Peter Hannaford
• Chemists, Norman Greenwood & Andrew Holmes
• Geologists, Martin Glaessner & Ted Ringwood
• Immunologist, Ian Frazer
• Endocrinologist, Richard Pestell
• Journalist and TV personality, Emma Alberici
• Economists, Lisa Cameron & William F. Mitchell
• Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange
• International law and diplomacy scholar, Helen Durham
• General John Monash
• Former Australian Prime Ministers, Alfred Deakin, Robert Menzies & Julia Gillard