We're taking a look at our campus landmarks and explore the stories of the people who were honoured by becoming part of the very fabric of King’s.
James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB), Waterloo
James Clerk Maxwell was a pioneer in the fields of magnetism, electricity and light whose work paved the way for radio, television, radar and mobile phones. In fact, Albert Einstein once commented: ‘One scientific epoch ended and another began with James Clerk Maxwell’.
In recognition of his many achievements, the James Clerk Maxwell Building on the Waterloo campus was named in his honour.
Born in 1831 in Edinburgh, James’ interest in science began at an early age and by the age of 14 he had written his first scientific paper. James was a student at Edinburgh and Cambridge universities before being offered a professorship in Aberdeen at just 25 years old. Then in 1860 he joined King’s as Professor of Natural Philosophy.
He worked out that electricity and magnetism create waves of electromagnetic energy, sharing his findings in papers published between 1861-62, and the Theory of Electromagnetism is summarised in four key equations which now bear his name. His work brought together for the first time the mechanism by which electromagnetic radiation exists, and so ultimately set the stage for future inventions of radio, television, radar and mobile phones.
James also made several discoveries about how we see light and colour, including how any colour of light can be made by mixing different amounts of blue, green and red light. His work led to the first colour photographs being taken in 1861.
Hodgkin Building, Guy’s
Thomas Hodgkin was a pathologist best known for first describing the blood disease Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The Hodgkin Building, the original medical school building of Guy’s Hospital, is named in his honour.
Born in 1798 in north London, Thomas began his medical training at St Thomas’ and Guy’s Medical School in 1819, then moved to the University of Edinburgh, followed by several years in Paris. He worked as a personal physician and made many contacts in the medical profession before taking up a position at Guy’s in 1825, first as a volunteer clerk and the following year as curator of the museum.
At Guy’s, Thomas introduced the stethoscope to the hospital, having come across it during his time in Paris. His role involved conducting autopsies and he built up a reputation as a pathologist. In 1832 he was the first person to identify aspects of a form of lymphoma and blood disease which he presented at the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London and in its journal. In 1856, another Guy’s physician Samuel Wilks reported on patients with the same symptoms, and in his paper, he named it Hodgkin’s disease in honour of his predecessor.
Thomas was a pioneer of preventive medicine and an advocate of student involvement in bedside learning which is still used today. In 1836 he became a founding member of the Senate of the University of London and was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians that same year. In 1842, he took charge of teaching at St Thomas’s but later returned to private practice.
Thomas was also a life-long supporter of the abolition of slavery having first written an essay on the topic at the age of just 21 and in his later years spent an increasing amount of his time raising awareness of the impact of western colonisation on indigenous peoples around the world. In 1866, while traveling with lifelong friend, banker and philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, Thomas contracted dysentery and died in Jaffa at the age of 67.
David Goldberg Centre, Denmark Hill
Professor Sir David Goldberg was Professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and a Consultant Psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. The David Goldberg Centre was named in his honour and is home to the Department of Health Service & Population Research.
Sir David’s work advanced psychiatric epidemiology, shaped global training for general practitioners and psychiatrists, and improved mental health services in low- and middle-income countries.
Born in 1934, Sir David studied medicine at the University of Oxford and undertook his clinical work at St Thomas’ Hospital in London from 1957 to 1959. He worked at the Maudsley, University of Manchester and then in 1993, he returned to the Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry to take up the prestigious Chair of Psychiatry. He became a Professor Emeritus of King's College London in 2000.
During his career, Sir David published over 300 papers and authored or co-authored 13 books. In the 1970s, he produced the 'Clinical Interview Schedule' (1970) and the 'General Health Questionnaire' (1972), validated tools for psychiatric research which are still widely used.
Sir David was a long-term advisor to the UK Department of Health and the World Health Organisation. He was also Chairman of the General Old Age Psychiatry Advisory Committee (GOAPSAC), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guideline Development Group for Depression and the NICE Guideline for Depression in Physical Diseases.
From 1999 to 2016 he chaired the Psychiatry Research Trust, a UK-based organisation dedicated to advancing research in psychiatry and related fields. Sir David received a knighthood in 1997 for contributions to medicine – at the ceremony he explained to the Queen that he was given it “because I’ve taught a generation of doctors how to talk to people.” In 2009, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the inaugural Royal College of Psychiatrists Awards ceremony. He died in 2024 at the age of 90.