23rd February 1965

Edinburgh Napier University is founded

Napier Technical College, which would become Edinburgh Napier University in the 1990s, was named after Scottish mathematician, John Napier, who discovered logarithms and popularised the use of the decimal point. The University’s Merchiston campus was built around Merchiston Castle, where Napier was born in 1550.

Official opening

Although founded in 1964, the college was opened on 23 February 1965 with Lord Snowdon, then on an official visit to Scotland, in attendance. Its varied syllabus included subjects ranging from chemistry and engineering to boat building and cabinet making.

In 1974, the college merged with the Edinburgh College of Commerce to become the Napier College of Commerce and Technology, was renamed Napier Polytechnic in the 1980s and officially inaugurated as a university in 1992.