Museum, the Whitworth art gallery, the John Rylands Library, the Tabley House Collection and the Jodrell Bank Observatory – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university and its predecessor institutions have had 26 Nobel laureates amongst their past and present students and staff.
== History ==
=== Origins (1824 to 2004) ===
The University of Manchester traces its roots to the formation of the Mechanics' Institution (the distant forerunner of UMIST) in 1824, and its heritage is linked to Manchester's pride in being the world's first industrial city. The English chemist John Dalton, together with Manchester businessmen and industrialists, established the Mechanics' Institution to ensure that workers could learn the basic principles of science.
John Owens, a textile merchant, left a bequest of £96,942 in 1846 (around £5.6 million in 2005 prices) to found a college to educate men on non-sectarian lines. His trustees established Owens College in 1851 in a house on the corner of Quay Street and Byrom Street which …
