Kungl tekniska hogskolan
KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest technical university. KTH was established in as the Teknologiska institutet Institute of Technology and had its roots in the Mekaniska skolan School of Mechanics that was established in in Stockholm.
But the origin of KTH dates back to the predecessor of the Mekaniska skolanthe Laboratorium mechanicumwhich was established in by the Swedish scientist and innovator Christopher Polhem. The Laboratorium mechanicum combined education technology, a laboratory, and an exhibition space for innovations. KTH is ranked 73rd in the world among all universities in the QS World University Rankingswhich is higher than any other university in the Nordic countries.
KTH's earliest Swedish predecessor was the Laboratorium Mechanicum, a collection of mechanical models for teaching created in by Christopher Polhem. Polhem is considered to be kungl tekniska hogskolan father of mechanics in Sweden. He founded the laboratorium as a school and research facility in the engineering field of mechanics after his extensive trips, studies and research abroad.
In the School of Mechanics was transformed into the Technological Institute Teknologiska institutetfollowing the establishment of polytechnical schools in many European countries the kungl tekniska hogskolan years of the 19th century, often based on the model of École polytechnique in Paris. The institute had one professor in chemistry and one in physicsand one class in mechanical engineering and one in chemical engineering.
During the first years, however, teaching was at a very elementary level, and more aimed at craftsmanship rather than engineering as such. The institute was also plagued by conflicts between the faculty and the founder and head of the institute, Gustaf Magnus Schwartz, who was responsible for the artisanal focus of the institute. A government committee was appointed in to solve the issues, which led to removing Schwartz in He led a full reorganisation of the institute in —, after which he returned to his post in Falun.
KTH's organisation
An entrance test and a minimum kungl tekniska hogskolan of 16 for students was introduced, which led to creating proper engineering training at the institute. Inthe engineering program was extended from two years to three. In the late s, the institute entered a time of expansion. Init received its own purpose-built buildings on Drottninggatan.
Inits regulations were again overhauled, to state explicitly that kungl tekniska hogskolan institute should provide scientific training to its students. Inthe School of Mining in Falun was moved to Stockholm and merged with the institute. Inthe institute took over the civil engineering course formerly arranged by the Higher Artillery College in Marieberg.
Inthe name was changed into the current one, which changed KTH's status from Institute institut to College högskolaand some courses were extended from three years to four. Architecture was also added to the curriculum. Inthe degree titles conferred by KTH received legal protection. In the late 19th century, it had become common to use the title civilingenjör literally "civil engineer" for most KTH-trained engineers, and not just those who studied building and construction-related subjects.
The only exception was the mining engineers, which called themselves bergsingenjör "mountain engineer". For a while, the title civilingenjör was equal to "KTH graduate" but inChalmers in Gothenburg became the second Swedish engineering college which were allowed to confirm these titles.
MSc Civil and Architectural Engineering
Inthe first buildings of KTH's new campus on Valhallavägen were completed, and still constitute its main campus. Although the engineering education kungl tekniska hogskolan the late 19th and early 20th century were scientifically founded, until the early 20th century, research as such was not seen as a central activity of an Institute of Technology.
Those engineering graduates who went on to academic research had to earn their doctorates, typically in physics or chemistry, at a regular university. InKTH was finally granted the right to confer its own doctorates, under the designation Teknologie doktor Doctor of Technologyand the first five doctors were created in Inthe civilingenjör programs at all Swedish universities were extended from four years to 4.
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Fromthe shorter programs in technology arranged by the municipal polytechnical schools in Sweden was gradually extended and moved into the university system, from as two-year programs and from alternatively as three-year programs. For KTH, this meant that additional campuses around the Stockholm area were added. In the present-day, [ when? Inthere were a kungl tekniska hogskolan of 13, undergraduate students, 1, doctoral students, and 3, staff members at the university.
After the American deployment of nuclear weapons at the end of World War IIthe 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. With the mission to "make something with neutrons", the Swedish team, with scientists like Rolf Maximilian Sievertset out to research the subject and eventually build a nuclear reactor for testing.
Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health
After a few years of basic research, they started building a kW later expanded to 1 MW reactor, named Reaktor 1 R1in a reactor hall 25 meters under the surface right underneath KTH. Today this might seem ill-considered, since approximately 40, people lived within a 1 km radius. It was risky, but was deemed tolerable since the reactor was an important research tool for scientists at the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien.
At on 13 Julykungl tekniska hogskolan reactor achieved criticality and sustained Sweden's first nuclear reaction. R1 was to be the main site for almost all Swedish nuclear research until 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.