Montpellier 2 University was a French university in the academic of Montpellier. It was one of the three universities formed in 1970 from the original University of Montpellier. Its central campus neighbors the Montpellier 3 University's main campus, and for this reason, the nearest tramway station is named "Universities of Sciences and Literature" rather than "University of Sciences." In January 2015, Montpellier 1 University and Montpellier 2 University merged into Montpellier University.
The creation of the Imperial University by Napoleon I in 1808 stimulated the formation of several faculties of Humanities and Science in the French Empire's main cities. At that time, Montpellier had already a long-established medical college, a school of Pharmacy, and a respected Royal Society of Sciences created in 1706. In 1810, a Faculty of Science started with initially seven chairs: mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, zoology, botany, and mineralogy.
In 1879, the faculty created a research station of marine biology in Sète and, twelve years later, and the Institute of Botany. The Institute of Chemistry, created in the same period, became the Ecole Nationale Supérieure of Chemistry of Montpellier in 1941. In 1964, the faculty left the center of Montpellier to settle in a 30-hectare campus to the north of the city on which 146 000 m2 of buildings for teaching and research were built.
