The ICR was founded in 1909, when a new laboratory building adjoining The Cancer Hospital (later named the Royal Marsden Hospital) was established with Alexander Paine as its first Director. In 1910 Robert Knox was appointed to head the Electrical and Radio-therapeutic Department at The Cancer Hospital and established the first professionally designed X-ray Department for treatment and diagnosis in Britain. The Cancer Hospital Research Institute was officially opened by Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught in 1911. In 1921 Professor Archibald Leitch was appointed Director of The Cancer Hospital Research Institute. The Institute became a postgraduate School of the University of London in 1927. In 1931 Professor Sir Ernest Kennaway FRS became Director of the Institute. In 1932 a research team led by Professor Kennaway fractionated coal tar and isolated , which he identified as one of the chemical constituents that induced cancer in mice. These were the first research findings to show that a pure chemical substance can cause cancer. In 1936 Professor Kennaway proposed the potential of a link between smoking and lung cancer. The Cancer Hospital Research Institute moved to a new site on Fulham Road in Chelsea in 1939 and was renamed the Chester Beatty Research Institute.