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Cambridge University Oxford University Cambridge University is the second oldest - after Oxford - in Britain. The university has 31 colleges (see the list of colleges). In 2009 the university celebrated its 800 year anniversary. The colleges The origins of Cambridge University date back to the arrival of former students of Oxford University in 1209 but it wasn't until 1284 that the first college - Peterhouse - was founded. By the end of the 16th century another fifteen colleges had been established and then - in the 19th and 20th centuries - fifteen more. As with Oxford, Cambridge University - especially its older established colleges - has seen many of its students go on to achieve notable things. No degree But a successful completion of their studies was not always necessary for former students to achieve success in life. The Poet Laureates Thomas Shadwell and Alfred Tennyson, the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Siegfried Sassoon and the writers William Makepeace Thackeray and Christopher Isherwood all left Cambridge without a degree. A degree also eluded Edward VII, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Britain's first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and the chemist Henry Cavendish (whose descendants endowed the university's world-famous Cavendish Laboratory). Women It wasn't until Girton College (1869) and Newnham College (1871) opened that women were finally admitted to Cambridge. Since then graduates have included the first British woman to win a Nobel Prize, Dorothy Hodgkin; the poet Sylvia Plath and the writer Iris Murdoch. The following list shows the thirty-one colleges, grouped by the century in which they were founded. The colleges founded before the 18th century include information on a selection of famous people who have been connected to the college and links to the college website and its history webpage. The colleges founded since 1800 have links to their websites. The 31 Cambridge Colleges   13th century         Peterhouse Founded: 1284     14th century       Clare College Founded: 1326 Pembroke College Founded: 1347 Gonville & Caius College Founded: 1348 Trinity Hall Founded: 1350 Corpus Christi College Founded: 1352 15th century     Magdalene College Founded: 1428 King's College Founded: 1441 Queens' College Founded: 1448 St Catharine's College Founded: 1473 Jesus College Founded: 1496 16th century   Christ's College Founded: 1505 St John's College Founded: 1511 Trinity College Founded: 1546 Emmanuel College Founded: 1584 Sidney Sussex College Founded: 1596 19th century Downing College Founded: 1800 Girton College Founded: 1869 Fitzwilliam College Founded: 1869 Newnham College Founded: 1871 Selwyn College Founded: 1882 Hughes Hall Founded: 1885 St Edmund's College Founded: 1896     20th century Murray Edwards College Founded (as New Hall): 1954 Churchill College Founded: 1960 Darwin College Founded: 1964 Lucy Cavendish College Founded: 1965 Clare Hall Founded: 1965 Wolfson College Founded: 1965 Homerton College Founded: 1976 Robinson College Founded: 1979 13th century Peterhouse A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. Peterhouse was founded by Hugo de Balsham, the Bishop of Ely, in 1284. It is the oldest - and smallest - college at Cambridge University. History Famous People Henry Cavendish Chemist. Natural philosopher Undergraduate, 1749-53 No degree James Mason Actor Undergraduate, 1928-31 Inventors and Scientists Charles Babbage Mathematician. Computer pioneer Undergraduate, 1812-14 MA, 1817 Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, 1828-39 Nobel Prize Winners A.J.P. Martin Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1952 Undergraduate, 1929-32 Max Perutz Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1962 John C. Kendrew Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1962 Fellow, 1947-75 See Trinity College Aaron Klug Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1982 Fellow, 1962-93 Michael Levitt Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 2013 Research student, 1968-71 See Gonville & Caius Prime Ministers Duke of Grafton Prime Minister of Britain, 1768-70 Undergraduate, 1751-53 MA Writers and Poets Thomas Gray Poet Undergraduate, 1734-38 (No degree), 1742-43 Fellow, 1742-56 Regius Professor of Modern History, 1768-71 Gray lived at the college until 1756 when he moved to Pembroke College Information Genealogy in England