Royal Institute of Technology
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Template:Infobox Swedish University
The Royal Institute of Technology or Kungliga tekniska högskolan (KTH) is a university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH was founded in 1827 and is Sweden's largest instituition of higher education in technology.
Kth.jpg
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Campus
The main campus building at Valhallavägen, by architect Erik Lallerstedt, was completed in 1917.
Organization
From 2005 KTH is organized into a number of schools each consisting of a number of departments:
- School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE)
- KTH Architecture
- KTH Civil and Architectural Engineering
- KTH Infrastructure
- KTH Land and Water Resources Engineering
- The Department of History of Science and Technology
- School of Biotechnology (BIO)
- KTH Biotechnology
- School of Computer Science and Communication (KOD)
- KTH Numerical Analysis and Computer Science
- KTH Speech, Music and Hearing
- The Unit for Language and Communication
- School of Electrical Engineering
- KTH Alfvén Laboratory
- 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 Microelectronics and Information Technology
- KTH Computer and Systems Sciences
- KTH Applied Information Technology
- 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)
- KTH South
- School of Engineering Sciences (SCI)
- KTH Physics
- KTH Mathematics
- KTH Mechanics
- KTH Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering
- KTH Solid Mechanics
Students
See: The Student Union at the Royal Institute of Technology
History
The origin of the school was the Technological Institute in Stockholm, which was started in 1826. In 1877 the name was changed into the current one.
R1
After the World War 2, and more specifically the two American nuclear weapons used on the two Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Swedish military leadership recognized nuclear weapons as something that should be thoroughly investigated and researched to provide Sweden with knowledge on how to defend itself from a nuclear attack. At this time Sweden knew virtually nothing about nuclear physics, as all information about the American bombs and the research around them was 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 insane, to say the least, since approximately 40,000 people lived within a 1 km radius, but at the time the risks were deemed tolerable since it meant having the reactor very close to scientists of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien).
At 18:59, 13 July 1954, the reactor reached critical mass and Sweden's first sustained nuclear reaction was a fact. 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 involved with operating a reactor in a densely populated area like Stockholm. The reactor is long gone, but the reactor hall remains to the amusement of many as they are told that they're standing next door to what used to be Sweden's first nuclear reactor. Close to the reactor hall is the restaurant Quantum.
Noted alumni
- Karl-Birger Blomdahl, composer (dropped out)
- Kurt Atterberg, composer (graduated 1911)
- Salomon August Andrée, arctic explorer
- Knut Frænkel, arctic explorer
- Baltzar von Platen
- Carl Munters
- Ivar Kreuger
- Ernst Alexanderson
- Christer Fuglesang
- Dolph Lundgren
Honorary doctorates
- Richard Stallman, Honorary Doctorate
- Bill Gates, Honorary Doctorate
Noted faculty
- Hannes Alfvén, Nobel Prize laureate
- Kai Siegbahn, Nobel Prize laureate
- Rolf Schock
- Arne Kaijser
- Johan Håstad
See also
External links
- Royal Institute of Technology (http://www.kth.se/) - Official sitede:Königliche Technische Hochschule Stockholm
fi:Kungliga tekniska högskolan sv:Kungliga tekniska högskolan