City College of New York, Public educational institution in Manhattan, United States.
City College stands at the corner of Convent Avenue and West 138th Street and offers programs across eight academic divisions. The buildings surround a central courtyard that serves as a meeting point for students between lectures.
Townsend Harris founded the institution in 1847 as The Free Academy, making it the first tuition-free higher education institution in the United States. Over the decades, it evolved into a center for immigrants and their children who otherwise would have had no access to advanced learning.
Students come from more than 150 countries and bring their native languages into classrooms and onto the campus grounds. This mix shows in conversations on walkways, in cafeterias, and in common spaces, where voices from every continent can be heard.
The campus sits in Harlem and can be reached by several subway lines that stop at 137th Street. Visitors planning a walk should keep in mind that buildings are spread across a hill and some stairways need to be climbed.
Albert Einstein gave his first presentation of the general theory of relativity outside Europe at this college. The lecture took place a few years after the theory was published and marked the beginning of scientific acceptance of relativity in America.
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