Autonomous institution of higher learning in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.
Its beginnings lie in an exodus of scholars from the University of Oxford in 1209. Its first college was built in 1284, and the university was officially recognized by the pope in 1318. From 1511 Desiderius Erasmus did much to inculcate the new learning of the Renaissance at Cambridge. In 1546 Henry VIII founded Trinity College, which remains the largest of Cambridge's 31 colleges. From 1669 Isaac Newton taught mathematics, giving this field a unique position there. In 1871 James Clerk Maxwell accepted the chair of experimental physics, beginning a leadership in physics that would continue into the next century. A host of world-renowned scholars in other fields have also taught at Cambridge, including John Maynard Keynes in economics and Stephen W. Hawking in applied mathematics and theoretical physics. Many of the university's buildings, including the famous King's College Chapel and two chapels designed by Christopher Wren , are rich in history and tradition. The library houses numerous important collections, and the Fitzwilliam Museum contains noteworthy collections of antiquities.