'I studied at Berkeley"

The University defines Berkeley as a city. It has always been, and continues to be, progressive and outspoken, ie radical. If you are old enough you will remember seeing it on the television news in the 1960s as students protested against the Vietnam War. Regular protests still occur here.

This is Sproul Plaza where those 1960s protests took place.

 

Sather Gate at the end of Sproul Plaza was the gathering place and main entrance before Sproul Hall was constructed just outside and the university began to sprawl in to the surrounding areas of Berkeley.

 

As I entered the university I could hear melodious music wafting over the campus. It was coming from the 61 bells in the campanile tower which is 93metres high and stands next to the library buildings.

 

Beautiful eucalyptus tree at the eastern entrance. There are a lot of gum trees around Berkeley, especially in the hills. They are introduced from Australia and they like it here!

 

There are a lot of newer 20th century buildings on campus but this is one of the original buildings from 1873.

 

More older buildings. Perhaps trying to capture the ivy league atmosphere of Harvard and Stanford.

 

 The University boasts 22 Nobel prize winners among its faculty over the years. It can claim credit for the atom bomb, nuclear medicine, atom smashing, discovering vitamins E & K, flu vaccines, the wet suit, free speech, no fault divorce, UNIX and open source software, genes for breast cancer etc....

 

It is one of America's prestigious universities. If a graduate is asked where they studied, they simply reply "At Berkeley," My son has been impressed by the quality of the young Berkeley IT graduates he has worked with in his job here.

 

If you remember the saying "Never trust anyone over 30" it came from Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement protests of the 1960s.