Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Established	Fridericiana: 1825 as polytechnical school, 1865 as university; KIT: 1 October 2009
Type	Public
Budget	€707 million [1]
President	Horst Hippler, Eberhard Umbach
Academic staff	373
Admin. staff	8980
Students	20.771 (October 2011)
Location	Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany 49°00′34″N 8°24′42″E
Campus	Urban/Suburban
Website	kit.edu

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is the largest research and education institution in Germany, resulting from a merger of the university (Universität Karlsruhe (TH)) and the research center (Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe) of the city of Karlsruhe. The university, also known as Fridericiana, was founded in 1825. In 2009, it merged with the former national nuclear research center founded in 1956 as the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK). One of nine German Excellence Universities, the KIT is one of the leading universities in science and engineering in Europe, ranking 6th overall in terms of citation impact.

Historical background

The University of Karlsruhe was founded as Polytechnische Schule, a polytechnical school, on 7 October 1825. It was modeled upon the École polytechnique in Paris. In 1865, Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden (German: Friedrich) raised the school to the status of a Hochschule, an institution of higher education. Since 1902 the university has also been known as the Fridericiana in his honour.

In 1885, the institution was renamed a Technische Hochschule, Institute of Technology, and in 1967 it became an Universität, a full university, entailing the right to award regular doctorate degrees. Nevertheless in 1899 all technical universities, therefore including the University of Karlsruhe, were granted the right to award doctorate degrees for engineering identified as Dr. Ing..

The University of Karlsruhe has been one of the leading German institutions in computer science. A central computer laboratory was founded in 1966. The department of informatics was established three years later along with the possibility to study informatics in a regular course. On 2 August 1984, the university received Germany's first email.

On 6 April 2006, a contract for the foundation of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) was signed by Professor Horst Hippler and Dr. Dieter Ertmann from the University of Karlsruhe, and Professor Manfred Popp and Assistant Jur. Sigurd Lettow from Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. The name was selected to emulate the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the leading technical university in the United States.

In 2008, Hans-Werner Hector, SAP Co-Founder, raised a 200 million Euros fund to support excellent researchers within the university. Interestingly, Hans-Werner Hector is the only founder of SAP who did not graduate regularly at the University of Karlsruhe but was given an honorary doctorate degree for his support of intellectually gifted children in 2003.

Fridericiana, founded in 1825

The first step to bring together the university and the research center was already made in 1985, when the Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung (Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research) was founded. Both institutes, the university and the research center were merged. The university and the research center have always cooperated but the cooperation increased by July 2006 when the KIT was formally founded. The main reason for establishing the KIT was the participation of the university of Karlsruhe in the German Universities Excellence Initiative, including the chance to get a maximum grant of 50 million Euros p.a. from the excellence initiative.

In February 2008, the merger of the University of Karlsruhe and the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe forming the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology was agreed upon by the state Baden-Württemberg and the federal German government. The corresponding state law was passed on 8 July 2009. KIT was formally established on 1 October 2009.

Admission and education

Since the winter semester of 2008/2009, the University of Karlsruhe completed the change from the Diplom system to a bachelor and master based system. Students working towards a diplom degree can finish their studies while new students are only allowed to apply for a bachelor or master degree.

The admission policies are based on the different departments. While students are chosen by the quality of their school degree and their extracurricular activities for some courses like business engineering (27% admission in 2008), other departments do not preselect for their courses, for example in physics, informatics or meteorology. The philosophy of a non preselective procedure is a natural selection during course time. All courses require a minimum amount of passed exams, called "Orientierungsprüfung" (engl.: orientational assessment), in the first three semesters to allow continuing the course to its end.

In the first semesters of a course, education tends to be theoretically-oriented at the University of Karlsruhe, requiring a high concentration of mathematical courses for engineering and natural science courses. It is possible to specialize in more practical or theoretical topics in later semesters.

Interdisciplinary education and research

The university allows a broad band of education with the possibility of cross studies and work. The studium generale (Engl.: General studies) was established in 1949 allowing students to attend lectures not directly pertaining their study field.

The "Zentrum für Angewandte Kulturwissenschaft und Studium Generale" (Engl.: Center for applied culture and general studies) was founded in 1989 to support the students as a central institution for their interdisciplinary study. Nowadays it offers specialised qualifications in the fields of "Leadership and Entrepreneurship", "Media - Culture - Communication", "Internationalisation and intercultural decision-making and responsibility", "Diversity Management", "European Integration and Identity Studies", as well as the classical studium generale. A possibility for a concomitant study in applied culture science is given as well.

In 1979, the "Interfakultatives Institut für Anwendungen der Informatik" (Engl.: Interfacultative institute for applications of informatics) was founded. It binds together research in the fields of physics, mathematics and engineering which are based on computer science. Its mathematical pendant is the "Institut für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen und Mathem. Modellbildung" (Engl.: Institute for scientific calculations and mathematical modeling). Its aim is to enhance the exchange between mathematics and engineering in the fields of scientific calculations.

The "Interfakultatives Institut für Entrepreneurship" (Engl.: Interfacultative institute for entrepreneurship) was established by SAP funding. Its teaching professors were entrepreneurs on their own. Before being shut down in 2010 the former professor was Götz Werner, founder of dm - Drogeriemarkt.

In 2001, the Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN) was established. It merges the fields of material sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, and physics which are related to nano technology. The CFN is one of the three Exzellenzzentren (Engl.: Excellence Instituitions) of the University of Karlsruhe. A second interdisciplinary excellence institution is the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM).

The Karlsruhe School of Optics & Photonics (KSOP) was established in 2006 as a public funded project by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) within the scope of the Excellence Initiative by the German Federal and State Governments to promote Science and Research at German universities. KSOP is the first graduate school at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) and covers the research areas Photonic Materials & Devices, Advanced Spectroscopy, Biomedical Photonics and Optical Systems. It is supported by several Institutes and Professors of the university.

Reputation

According to the Ranking of Scientific Impact of Leading European Research Universities, an official document compiled by the European Commission, Karlsruhe ranks 2nd nationally and 6th in Europe in terms of scholarly impact.

With the exception of the department of biology, this university receives more funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft than any other university specializing in the natural sciences in Germany. However, when compared to Germany's other universities, the university receives average funding. In the engineering sciences (Computer Science, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering), the university is in the top three together with University of Stuttgart and the RWTH Aachen. It also consistently ranks top in the course business engineering and management, concerning the overall study situation as well as popularity with employers. However the university is not in the top twenty in the subject of mathematics.

More than 20% of its students are attracted from other nations and 0.6% of its students receive grants from the German Studienstiftung (German National Academic Foundation). In 1998, ScienceWatch [2] ranked its chemistry faculty as belonging to "the cream of the crop in chemistry" internationally.

In 2006, the University of Karlsruhe was chosen to be one of the first three universities with the best future concept within the scope of the German Universities Excellence Initiative. These universities have been called "elite universities" in general public and media from that day on.

For many years the department for Computer Science has been the number one institution in this field in Germany. Hence, the University of Karlsruhe has established international reputation.

In the 2011 QS World University Rankings the university was ranked 147th in the world, two places above the German university Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Its subject rankings were 51st in Engineering & IT and 67th in Natural Sciences.

Campus Nord

The Campus Nord (engl. Campus North), the former Forschungszentrum was founded in 1956 as Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK) (Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre). Initial activities concentrated around the Forschungsreaktor 2 (FR2), the first nuclear reactor built by Germany. With the decline of nuclear energy activities in Germany, Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe directed its work increasingly towards alternative areas of basic and applied sciences. This change is reflected in the change of name from Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe to Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe with the subheading Technik und Umwelt (technology and environment) in 1995. This subheading was replaced by in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft in 2002.

The Campus Nord is the site of the main German national nuclear engineering research centre and the Institute for Transuranium Elements. Also present on the site is a nanotechnology research centre and the neutrino experiment KATRIN.

There is further a 200 metre tall guyed mast for meteorological measurements at Campus Nord.

Computer facilities

The Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC), named after Karl Steinbuch, is the institution which was formed in 2008 out of the merging process between the main computer facilities of the University of Karlsruhe and the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. It is responsible for the university's IP connectivity and provides central services (Mail, Web, Campus management) for students and employees. It supplies students with 10 fully equipped computer rooms, one professional print office and a wireless network over the whole campus area. Some departments, like computer science, physics, and mathematics, run their own computer rooms as well.

The SCC runs some of the fastest computers in Germany:

• HP XC3000 (334 nodes with 8 cores each, 27.04 TFLOPS),
• HP XC4000 (750 nodes with 4 cores each, 15.77 TFLOPS),
• a cluster bought by a corporation of institutes of different disciplines (200 nodes with 8 cores each, 17.57 TFLOPS),
• the two vector parallel calculators NEC SX-8R and NEC SX-9

On 2 August 1984, Michael Rotert, a research fellow at University of Karlsruhe, received the first email ever sent to Germany at his address rotert@germany.

Libraries

The KIT Library is the main library of KIT. Its two branches on Campus South and Campus North provide literature for research and study for about 25,000 students and 8000 scientists with a widespread, interdisciplinary book stock of over 2 million volumes, reports and 28,000 periodicals in print and electronic form. The emphasis of the collection lies on natural and engineering sciences.

KIT Library South

The 24-hour library at Campus South was extended in 2006. It became a 24h library with many working places and a relaxing area and is now open around the clock. The combination of a special book security system and an automated issue desk make it possible to use the 1000 workplaces anytime, day or night. Current and contemporary literature is freely accessible in the four specialised reading rooms. Each reading room provides cross-linked, modern and well-equipped study and work stations as well as printers, scanners and copy machines.

KIT Library North

The research library at Campus North provides a large specialised book stock (especially reports and primary reports) on energy and nuclear energy. The complete literature is freely accessible to the user. Thirty modern workplaces, as well as printers, scanners, copy machines and cubicles for individual work are available.

Further libraries at KIT

Additional literature is located in the two specialised reading rooms for chemistry and physics, as well as in the Library of the University of Applied Sciences at Campus Moltkestrasse, which is administrated by the KIT Library. The faculty of physics, the faculty of mathematics, the faculty of computer science and the faculty of economics and business management have got their own libraries to supply students and researchers with topic related literature.

Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

The CIE is an entrepreneurial driven platform for students, scientist and alumni of the KIT and the region Karlsruhe who are interested in starting a business. The CIE platform is developing towards an entrepreneur club where entrepreneurs support each other to raise successful businesses. Prospective entrepreneurs seek advise from the very first idea, how to develop business concepts and how to find co-workers. Founded in 2008 by two alumni of the KIT, the CIE offers a wide portfolio of services including consulting and concept development. The CIE also provides facilities like a StartUp-office where new entrepreneur teams can work on their ideas. All services are for free. Entrepreneurs who benefit from the active club are asked to support the CIE financially and with own services. As a project of the KIT the CIE receives financial support from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the European Social Fund.

Faculties

The university has eleven faculties:

1. Mathematics
2. Physics
3. Chemistry and Biology
4. Humanities and Social sciences
5. Architecture
6. Civil engineering, Geology, and Ecological Sciences
7. Mechanical Engineering
8. Chemical and Process Engineering
9. Electrical engineering and Information Technology
10. Computer Science
11. Economics and Business engineering

Many departments cooperate, some are shared with the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.

Famous people and discoveries

Karl Benz, was granted the patent for the first automobile, which he built in 1885

• Karl Benz (1844–1929), the inventor of the automobile, a graduate who also received an honorary Ph.D. in 1914
• Karl Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918), who developed the cathode ray tube in 1897, which is widely used in televisions, in 1909 he received the Nobel Prize for the invention
• Wolfgang Gaede (1878–1945), who founded vacuum technology
• Fritz Haber (1868–1934), who developed the high-pressure synthesis of ammonia in 1909 and won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918
• Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–1894) discovered electromagnetic waves in 1887, which are the basis of radio, and after whom the SI unit of frequency, hertz is named
• Otto Lehmann (1855–1922), the founder of liquid crystal research
• Wilhelm Nusselt (1882–1957), the co-founder of technical thermodynamics
• Ferdinand Redtenbacher (1809–1863), founder of mechanical engineering in Germany
• Roland Scholl (1865–1945), discovered coronene and contributed significantly to the field of organic chemistry in general
• Hermann Staudinger (1881–1965), who won in 1953 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry
• Wilhelm Steinkopf (1879–1949), co-developer of a method for the mass production of mustard gas during World War I
• Edward Teller (1908–2003), who is known as the originator of the hydrogen bomb
• Karl Heun (1859-1929), numerical Integration and solutions to differential equations. Discovery of the Heun method.

Famous students

Department	Names
Architecture	Hans Kollhoff, Oswald Mathias Ungers, Albert Speer, Ivan Vasilyov
Civil Engineering and Geology	Robert Gerwig, Dieter Ludwig
German language	Herbert Wetterauer
Mechanical Engineering	Karl Benz, Emil Škoda, Bernhard Howaldt, Franz Reuleaux, August Thyssen, Roland Mack
Mathematics	Fritz Noether
Physics	Johann Jakob Balmer, Fritz-Rudolf Güntsch, Edward Teller, Klaus Tschira, Bernd Schmidbauer
Chemical Engineering	Wilhelm Steinkopf
Electrical Engineering, Informational Technology	Rolf Wideröe, Dieter Zetsche, Hasso Plattner, Dietmar Hopp, Thom Barron
Industrial Engineering	Franz Fehrenbach, Stefan Quandt, Michael Rogowski

Presidents

• 1968 - 1983 Professor Dr. Ing. h. c. Heinz Draheim
• 1983 - 1994 Professor Dr. h.c. Heinz Kunle
• 1994 - 2002 Professor Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Dr.h.c.mult. Sigmar Wittig
• 2002 - current Professor Dr. sc. tech. Horst Hippler

Points of interest

• Botanischer Garten der Universität Karlsruhe, the university's botanical garden

External links

• Official website of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology