University of Toronto

The University of Toronto (UofT, or UToronto) is a publicresearch university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in the colony of Upper Canada. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. As a collegiate university, it comprises eleven colleges, which differ in character and history, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs. It has two satellite campuses in Scarborough and Mississauga.

The university was the birthplace of insulinand stem cellresearch, and was the site of the first practical electron microscope, the development of deep learning, multi-touch technology, the identification of the first black hole Cygnus X-1, and the development of the theory of NP-completeness. It receives the most annual scientific research funding of any Canadian university, and is one of two members of the Association of American Universities outside the United States, the other being McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[6]

The Varsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league matches, with long and storied ties to gridiron football and ice hockey. The earliest recorded college football game was played in the University of Toronto's University College in the 1860s. The university's Hart House is an early example of the North American student centre, simultaneously serving cultural, intellectual, and recreational interests within its large Gothic-revival complex.

The University of Toronto has educated three Governors General of Canada, four Prime Ministers of Canada, four foreign leaders, and fourteen Justices of the Supreme Court. As of March 2019, ten Nobel laureates, five Turing Award winners, 94 Rhodes Scholars, and one Fields Medalist have been affiliated with the university.