KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan | |
| File:Kth logo.svg | |
| Motto | Vetenskap och Konst ("Science and Art") |
|---|---|
| Type | Public University |
| Established | 1827 |
| Chairman | Dr. Cecilia Schelin Seidegård |
| Rector | Prof. Peter Gudmundson |
Academic staff | 500 |
| Students | 13,500 |
| 1,500 | |
| Location | , |
| Campus | Urban |
| Affiliations | CLUSTER, CESAER, EUA, TIME network et al. |
| Website | www.kth.se |
The Royal Institute of Technology or Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (KTH) is a university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH was founded in 1827 and is with TKK in Helsinki, depending on definition, Scandinavia's largest institution of higher education in technology and one of the leading technical universities in Europe [1].
Campus
The main campus building at Valhallavägen in Östermalm, by architect Erik Lallerstedt, was completed in 1917. The buildings and surroundings were decorated by prominent early 20th century Swedish artists such as Carl Milles, Axel Törneman, Georg Pauli, Tore Strindberg and Ivar Johnsson. The older buildings on the campus went through a complete renovation in 1994. While the original campus was large for its time, KTH very soon outgrew it and the campus was expanded with new buildings. Today KTH institutions and faculties are distributed across several campuses in Stockholm County, located in Flemingsberg, Haninge, Kista and Södertälje in addition to the ones in Östermalm.
History
The origin of the school was the Technological Institute (Teknologiska institutet), which was started in 1827. In 1877 the name was changed into the current one.
R1
After the American deployment of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II, the Swedish military leadership recognized the need for nuclear weapons to be thoroughly investigated and researched to provide Sweden with the knowledge to defend itself from a nuclear attack. At that time, Sweden knew virtually nothing about nuclear physics, as all information and research around were kept strictly confidential by the United States. With the mission to "make something with neutrons", the Swedish team, with scientists like Rolf Maximilian Sievert, set out to research the subject and eventually build a nuclear reactor for testing.
After a few years of basic research, they started building a 300 kW (later expanded to 1 MW) reactor, named "Reaktor 1", R1 for short, in a reactor hall 25 meters under the surface right underneath KTH. Today this might seem ill-considered, since approximately 40,000 people lived within a 1 km radius. It was risky, but were deemed tolerable since the reactor was an important research tool for scientists at the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien).
At 18:59, 13 July 1954, the reactor reached critical mass and sustained Sweden's first nuclear reaction. R1 was to be the main site for almost all Swedish nuclear research until 1970 when the reactor was finally decommissioned, mostly due to the increased awareness of the risks associated with operating a reactor in a densely populated area of Stockholm. The reactor hall remains an amusement to many as once it was next door to what used to be Sweden's first nuclear reactor. Close to the reactor hall is the restaurant Q.
Organization
From 2005 KTH is organized into nine schools each consisting of a number of departments:
- School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE)
- Architecture
- Civil and Architectural Engineering
- Real Estate and Construction Management
- Philosophy and History of Technology
- Land and Water Resources Engineering
- Urban Planning and Environment
- Transport and Economics
- School of Biotechnology (BIO)
- KTH Biotechnology
- KTH Theoretical Chemistry
- School of Computer Science and Communication (CSC)
- KTH Numerical Analysis and Computer Science (together with Stockholms universitet)
- KTH Speech, Music and Hearing
- The Unit for Language and Communication
- School of Electrical Engineering (EE)
- KTH Alfvén Laboratory (defunct, split in several departments)
- KTH Electrical Engineering
- KTH Signals, Sensors and Systems
- School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM)
- KTH Energy Technology
- KTH Industrial Economics and Management
- KTH Production Engineering
- KTH Materials Science and Engineering
- KTH Machine Design
- School of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
- KTH Electronic, Computer and Software Systems
- KTH Computer and Systems Sciences (together with Stockholms universitet)
- KTH Communication Systems
- KTH Microelectronics and Applied Physics (MAP)
- KTH Nanotechnology
- KTH Photonics
- KTH Applied IT with Entrepreneurship (defunct)
- School of Chemical Science and Engineering (CHE)
- KTH Chemistry
- KTH Chemical Engineering and Technology
- KTH Fibre and Polymer Technology
- School of Technology and Health (STH)
- Division of Medical Engineering (together with Karolinska institutet and Södertörns Högskola)
- KTH South
- School of Engineering Sciences (SCI)
- KTH Företagssamverkan
- Enheten för vetenskaplig information och lärande
- KTHB
- Learning Lab
Notable alumni
Many Swedish industrial leaders have graduated from KTH.
- Salomon August Andrée, Arctic Explorer
- Ernst Alexanderson, Inventor
- Kurt Atterberg, Composer (graduated 1911)
- Karl-Birger Blomdahl, Composer
- Börje Ekholm, CEO of Investor
- Knut Frænkel, Arctic Explorer
- Christer Fuglesang, Astronaut
- Kurt Hellström, former CEO of Ericsson
- Ivar Kreuger, Industrialist
- Dolph Lundgren, Actor
- Carl Munters, Inventor
- Helge Palmcrantz, Inventor
- Baltzar von Platen, Inventor
- Tinga Seisay, Diplomat
- Karl Johan Åström, Control Engineer, IEEE Medal of Honor recipient (1993)
Notable faculty
- Hannes Alfvén, Nobel Prize laureate and plasma physicist (b. 1908 - d. 1995)
- Lennart Carleson, Abel Prize laureate
- Sven Ove Hansson
- Johan Håstad, Gödel Prize winner
- Carl-Gunne Fälthammar, plasma physicist
- Arne Kaijser
See also
Footnotes
- ^ "World Top 100 University Engineering Faculties" International Ranking, Retrieved on 2007-05-24
External links
- Royal Institute of Technology - Official site