:Wolfson College, Oxford

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Wolfson's first president Sir Isaiah Berlin, the influential political philosopher and historian of ideas, was instrumental in the college's founding in 1965.{{cite book| title=Isaiah Berlin & Wolfson College | editor-first1=Henry | editor-last1=Hardy | editor-first2=Kei | editor-last2=Hiruta | editor-first3=Jennifer | editor-last3=Holmes | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | date=6 June 2009 }}{{cite journal| first=Isaiah | last=Berlin | author-link=Isaiah Berlin | title=Notes on the Foundation of Wolfson College | journal=Lycidas | volume=1 | date=1972 }}

The college began its existence with the name Iffley College, which offered a new community for graduate students at Oxford, particularly in natural and social sciences. Twelve other colleges of the university provided grants to make the establishment of Iffley possible. As of 1965, the college had neither a president nor a building. Berlin set out to change this, eventually securing support from the Wolfson Foundation and Ford Foundation in 1966 to establish a separate site for the college, which included 'Cherwell', the former residence of J. S. Haldane and his family, as well as new buildings built around it. In recognition of Isaac Wolfson's contribution to the foundation of the college, its name was changed to Wolfson College.{{cite book| title=Wolfson College, Oxford: The First Fifty Years | editor-first1=John | editor-last1=Penney | editor-first2=Roger | editor-last2=Tomlin | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | date=2016 }}

But Berlin's work as the president of the college was far from over. Formally taking over the reins of the college in 1967, he envisioned Wolfson to be a centre of academic excellence but, unlike many other colleges at Oxford, also bound it to a strong egalitarian and democratic ethos.{{cite book | last = Ignatieff | first = Michael | title = Isaiah Berlin: A Life | publisher = Chatto & Windus | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-7011-6325-9 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/isaiahberlin00mich }} In Berlin's words, the college would be 'new, untrammelled and unpyramided'.

If Berlin was the inspiration and beacon for this most modern of academic institutions, its birth and early shape would not have happened without the tireless backroom work of Berlin's vice-president, Michael Brock, formerly of Corpus Christi College. They were a formidable team and ensured Berlin's ideals were largely achieved.

Wolfson is perhaps the most egalitarian college at Oxford, with few barriers between students and fellows. There is no high table, only one common room for all the members of the college, and gowns are worn only on special occasions. Graduate students serve on the college's governing body and participate in General Meetings. Berlin's reputation and presence in the early years also helped shape the intellectual character of the college, attracting many distinguished fellows like Niko Tinbergen, who won a Nobel Prize for his studies in animal behaviour in 1973. Berlin's own prominence in the humanities helped attract many graduate students like Henry Hardy, interested in political philosophy and the history of ideas.

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The main building of the college, designed by Powell and Moya Architects and completed in 1974, is one of the most modern main buildings of all Oxford colleges. It has three quadrangles: the central quadrangle named the Berlin Quad after Isaiah Berlin, the Tree Quad built around established trees, and the River Quad into which the River Cherwell has been diverted to form a punt harbour. The main building and footbridge across the river were grade II listed in June 2011.{{National Heritage List for England |num=1402277 |desc=Wolfson College |access-date=4 April 2015}}

The college has student accommodation in the main college building, in three child-friendly courtyards surrounded by family housing, and also has similar accommodation in a scattering of purpose-built blocks, including the Robin Gandy Buildings, and in existing houses on Linton Road, Chadlington Road and Garford Road. The college also owns an adjacent house and orchard that was occupied by the Bishop of Oxford until 2014.{{cite news| url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11552552.New_Bishop_of_Oxford_will_live_outside_city_as_current___10m_house_deemed_too_expensive/ |title=New Bishop of Oxford will live outside city as current £10m house deemed too expensive |first=Andrew |last=Ffrench | newspaper=Oxford Mail | date=23 October 2014 }} Wolfson College aims to cut its emissions and plans to be carbon neutral by 2030.{{cite magazine| url=https://www.building.co.uk/focus/wolfson-college-oxford-first-class-graduates-in-energy-efficiency/5113300.article | title=Wolfson College, Oxford: first-class graduates in energy efficiency | first=Thomas | last=Lane | date=19 August 2021 | magazine=Building | location=UK }}

The college library, which occupies both floors of one wing of the college's main building, is open to members of the college. The main library is on the first floor, approachable from the side of the dining hall and the lodge, and two other collections, called the Floersheimer Room and the Hornik Memorial Room are on the ground floor. A mezzanine floor in the main library has books as well as carrels for individual use by graduate students of the college. The library has an extensive collection of books and journals.{{cite web| title=Library | url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/library | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | accessdate=20 December 2022 }}

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The college has one common room for fellows and graduate students. The common room has two floors: the upper common room, with an attached terrace overlooking the punting harbour, which has a bar and a coffee counter, and the lower common room, which has magazines and newspapers. The college's hall is one of the few in the university to have a common table. The 'Haldane Room', a hall adjacent to the dining hall proper, is where formal meals, especially the convocation lunch, are held.{{cite web| title=Venues – Hall and Haldane Room | url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/venues | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | accessdate=20 December 2022 }}

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The college owns grounds on both sides of the river, including two meadows on the opposite side, towards Marston.{{cite book| title=A history of ecology of North and South Meads | first=Alison W. | last=McDonald | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | date=1992 }} It has a small but well-maintained garden with mature trees behind its main building, and beside the river. The garden is landscaped well on the riverbank, with a flight of steps leading up to a green-house and a sundial. The college also has a smaller garden beside the Robin Gandy building, which stands on the banks of the river.{{cite web| title=Gardens | url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/gardens | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | accessdate=20 December 2022 }}

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The college has its own squash court and croquet lawn, and takes part in many university sporting events, including cricket, football, and the yearly rowing competition. It is one of the few in Oxford with its own punting harbour, with a fleet of punts for use by all members of the college. The Wolfson College Boat Club is on the ground floor of 'C' Block.{{cite web| title=Punting and Canoeing at Wolfson | url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/punting-and-canoeing-wolfson | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | accessdate=20 December 2022 }}

Wolfson had approximately 800 graduate students, many of whom were DPhil students. The remainder were studying for MPhil, MSc, MSc by Research, MSt, MSt by Research, MBA, EMBA, MLitt, MLitt by Research, BPhil, and Cert degrees. The college also accepts MJur and BCL candidates.{{cite web| title=Graduate Study | url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/graduate-study | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | accessdate=20 December 2022 }}

Wolfson is home to a number of research clusters:{{cite web| url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/research-clusters | title= Research Clusters | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | language=en | access-date=20 December 2022 }}

• Ancient World Research Cluster (AWRC)
• Wolfson College Digital Research Cluster
• The Oxford Centre for Life Writing (OCLW)
• Law in Societies
• South Asia Research Cluster (SARC)
• Earth Emergency Research Cluster
• Tibetan and Himalayan Studies Centre
• Quantum Foundations Research Cluster
• The Quantum Hub

It has also been home to the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, which has now moved to an independent location in Oxford.{{cite web| url=https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/centres-institutes/centre-socio-legal-studies |title=Centre for Socio-Legal Studies |publisher=Faculty of Law, University of Oxford | location=UK | access-date=20 December 2022 }} The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society, which is affiliated with the college and the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, was based there between 2005 and 2021.{{cite web|url= https://www.fljs.org/about | title=Foundation for Law, Justice and Society: About Us | website=Fljs.org | access-date=20 December 2022 }}

{{main|List of Wolfson College, Oxford, people}}

Wolfson is associated with a number of prominent individuals. These include former students, Fellows of the college and past presidents including two Nobel Prize winners. As Wolfson is a graduate-only college, most students will have been associated with another college or institution, before coming to study at Wolfson College for a Masters or DPhil degree.

File:Kay_Davies_portrait_2008.jpg|Kay Davies

File:Professor_Artur_Ekert_FRS.jpg|Artur Ekert

File:Richard_Ellis-49_copy.jpg|Richard Salisbury Ellis

File:Alison_Gopnik_Photo.jpg|Alison Gopnik

File:Nigel_Hitchin_2004.jpg|Nigel Hitchin

File:Reid_Hoffman.jpg|Reid Hoffman

File:Eric_Lander_(cropped).jpg|Eric Lander

File:Wes Moore Official Governor Portrait.jpg|Wes Moore

File:Iain Pears 2015.JPG|Iain Pears

File:Rezek2006.jpg|Francisco Rezek

File:S960_-_Chris_Whitty_-_Chief_Scientific_Adviser_(cropped).png|Chris Whitty

In the sciences, alumni of the college include the human geneticist Dame Kay Davies, the astronomer and Caltech professor Richard Ellis, theoretical physicist David Deutsch, mathematician and geneticist Eric Lander and mathematician James R. Norris. Entrepreneurs include Reid Hoffman, who was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn.

In law and public policy, alumni include Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government Chris Whitty, former Minister of External Relations of Brazil and Supreme Court Justice Francisco Rezek, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Ahmad Khan. Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the youngest serving Prime Minister of Iceland, studied at the College.

{{main|Category:Presidents of Wolfson College, Oxford}}

File:IsaiahBerlin1983.jpg|Isaiah Berlin

File:Bill Hoffenberg speaking at a conference Wellcome L0075320.jpg|Raymond Hoffenberg

File:Tim Hitchens (by UK in Japan- FCO).jpg|Tim Hitchens

{{main|Category:Fellows of Wolfson College, Oxford}}

File:Abramsky_Samson.jpg|Samson Abramsky

File:Jerome Bruner 1936.png|Jerome Bruner

File:Sir_Tony_Hoare_IMG_5125.jpg|Tony Hoare

File:Dorothy_Hodgkin_Nobel.jpg|Dorothy Hodgkin

File:Nikolaas_Tinbergen_1978.jpg|Nikolaas Tinbergen

Notable current and former fellows of the college include:

Jiyuan Yu, a moral philosopher noted for his work on virtue ethics.

William Bradshaw, Baron Bradshaw, Member of the House of Lords.

Anthony Epstein, discoverer of the Epstein–Barr virus.

Steven Schwartz, Vice Chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Denis Mack Smith, historian at Oxford.

Niko Tinbergen, Dutch ethologist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Dorothy Hodgkin, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

• List of honorary fellows of Wolfson College, Oxford
• Wolfson College, Cambridge
• Wolfson family

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book| title=Isaiah Berlin & Wolfson College | editor-first1=Henry | editor-last1=Hardy | editor-first2=Kei | editor-last2=Hiruta | editor-first3=Jennifer | editor-last3=Holmes | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | date=6 June 2009 }}
• {{cite book| title=A history of ecology of North and South Meads | first=Alison W. | last=McDonald | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | date=1992 }}
• {{cite book| title=Wolfson College, Oxford: The First Fifty Years | editor-first1=John | editor-last1=Penney | editor-first2=Roger | editor-last2=Tomlin | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | date=2016 }}

{{Commons category|Wolfson College, Oxford}}

• [http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/ Wolfson College website]
• [http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/wolfson/ Virtual Tour of the College]

{{University of Oxford}}

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Category:Educational institutions established in 1965

Category:Colleges of the University of Oxford

Category:Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford

Category:1965 establishments in England

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Oxford

Category:Postgraduate schools in the United Kingdom

Category:Himalayan studies

Category:Postgraduate colleges in British universities