鶹AV

10 鶹AV stories

  1. A university is born

    James 鶹AV and the birth of 鶹AV

    The oldest university in Montreal, 鶹AV was founded in 1821 from a generous bequest by James 鶹AV, a prominent Scottish merchant.
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  2. Flourishing under Sir John William Dawson

    Re-invention of 鶹AV under Principal Sir John William Dawson

    Throughout his 38 years as Principal, Sir John William Dawson reinvented 鶹AV as a university to rival the world's finest. His commitment to 鶹AV extended even beyond academics – Dawson personally funded the monumental beautification effort that created the stunning campus we enjoy today.
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  3. The forgotten war memorial and the campus that never was

    Historic 鶹AV Architecture that was never built

    Over the years, architects have proposed a variety of plans for 鶹AV’s 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 鶹AV’s earliest days that never made it off the drawing board. Join us as we tour an imaginary campus — the 鶹AV that might have been.
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  4. The birth of three sports

    鶹AV and the birth of hockey, football and basketball

    鶹AV is a place where people come to hone their intellects and exchange ideas. But hard work needn’t come at the expense of hard play—and 鶹AVians 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, 鶹AV has also played a key role in the creation of three pillars of sport.
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  5. Founding Macdonald College

    Founding 鶹AV's 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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  6. 鶹AV's women: blazing trails

    鶹AV's women blazing trails

    In 1884, women began attending classes at 鶹AV—a step forward made possible by benefactor Donald A. Smith (later Lord Strathcona). In honour of Smith, 鶹AV’s female students were known for decades as “Donaldas.”  In the ensuing years, female 鶹AVians would make landmark contributions in every field imaginable, and in 1912 鶹AV appointed the first woman university professor in Canada: Carrie Derick, a pioneering geneticist who created the first ever course on genetics and evolution.
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  7. How 鶹AVians and their ideas changed the world

    鶹AVian ideas, research and their impact on the world

    For 190 years, 鶹AV has provided fertile ground for intellectual pioneers who changed the world through their discoveries and ideas.


  8. Bonus feature: Make-Believe 鶹AVians

    鶹AV in television, literature and movies

    Some of the University’s most remarkable graduates – daring doctors, stellar scientists and international adventurers – never actually existed.  Check out some of the most interesting 鶹AV-trained TV, movie and literary characters who never lived.
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  9. Laying the foundations of modern heart surgery

    Dr.Maude Abbott and her contribution to Cardiology

    When Maude Abbott, BA'1890, MCDM'1910, joined 鶹AV's Department of Pathology, little was known about how to surgically repair damaged hearts. Through her work as the assistant curator of 鶹AV'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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  10. Breaking the bonds of genetic destiny

    鶹AV researchers Moshe Szyf and Michael Meaney and their contribution to Epigenetics

    Together, 鶹AV researchers Moshe Szyf and Michael Meaney discovered that our genetic code – the actual sequential structure of our DNA – can 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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鶹AV, 1991-Present« 1991–Present
Three 鶹AV grads enter orbit, five students are elected to Canada's Parliament, a young life is saved an ocean away, and sustainability sweeps 鶹AV.


Read about 鶹AV Pioneers鶹AV pioneers »
Osler and Penfield revolutionize medicine, Milner unlocks the secrets of memory, Rutherford gains insight into the atom, and Humphrey pens the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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