University of Karlsruhe
The
Universität Karlsruhe (TH) is a mainly technical university in the city of
Karlsruhe,
Germany and is a leading research university. It is among the five universities in Germany with the strongest effort in research
[Universität Karlsruhe top in numerous university rankings]. In the natural sciences there is no university nationwide getting more money from the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft than the Universität Karlsruhe
[Exzellent in Naturwissenschaften. 03.07.2003].
The faculty of chemistry belongs to "the cream of the crop in chemistry" in the world.
[ScienceWatch: Chemistry Research. Institutions Ranked by Citations and Citation Impact. July/August 1998]The University of Karlsruhe was founded as a
Polytechnische Schule (polytechnical school) on
October 7,
1825 having as an example the
École polytechnique in Paris. As such it is the first Technical University or Technische Hochschule (TH) in Germany. In
1865 Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden (German:
Friedrich) raised the school to the status of
Hochschule (roughly "college"), and the university has also been known since
1902 as the
Fridericiana in his honour. In
1885 the institution was renamed a
Technische Hochschule (Institute of Technology), and in
1967 it became a university.
On
April 6,
2006 the contract for the foundation of the
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) was signed by Prof.
Horst Hippler and Dr. Dieter Ertmann from the
University of Karlsruhe and Prof. Manfred Popp and Ass.jur. Sigurd Lettow from
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. The name was given after the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the leading US technical
university.
The
Universität Karlsruhe (TH) is not selective in its admission procedures. However, the actual selection process takes place in the
Grundstudium (study period leading to a
Vordiplom).Education at
Universität Karlsruhe (TH) tends to be theoretically oriented with a high amount of mathematics involved throughout the courses.
The university has 11 faculties:
#
Mathematics#
Physics#
Chemistry and
Biology#
Humanities and
Social sciences#
Architecture#
Civil engineering and
Geology#
Mechanical engineering#
Chemical and process engineering#
Electrical engineering#
Computer Science#
EconomicsMany departments cooperate, some are shared with the
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.
*
Ferdinand Redtenbacher (1809-1863), founder of
mechanical engineering in Germany .
*
Carl Benz (1844-1929), the inventor of the
automobile, studied here and received an honorary Ph.D. in 1914.
*
Karl Ferdinand Braun (1850-1918) developed the
cathode ray tube in 1897 which is widely used in today's
televisions. In 1909 he received the
Nobel Prize for it.
*
Otto Lehmann (1855-1922), the "father" of
liquid crystal research.
*
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894) discovered
electromagnetic waves in 1887 which are the basis of
radio. The
SI unit of
frequency,
hertz is named after him.
*
Fritz Haber (1868-1934) developed the high-pressure synthesis of
ammonia in 1909 and won a
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in
1918.
*
Wolfgang Gaede (1878-1945) founded
vacuum technology.
*
Wilhelm Nusselt (1882-1957) co-founded technical
thermodynamics.
*
Hermann Staudinger (1881-1965) won a
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in
1953, for his discoveries in the field of
macromolecular chemistry.
*
Edward Teller (1908-2003) known as the father of the hydrogen bomb
Famous students
| Department | Names | | Architecture | Oswald Mathias Ungers |
| Civil Engineering und Geology | Robert Gerwig |
| Mechanical Engineering | Carl Benz, Emil von Škoda (Škoda), Bernhard Howaldt, Franz Reuleaux, August Thyssen |
| Mathematics | Fritz Noether |
| Physics | Johann Jakob Balmer, Fritz-Rudolf Güntsch, Edward Teller, Klaus Tschira, Bernd Schmidbauer |
| Electrical Engineering, Informational Technology | Rolf Wideröe, Dieter Zetsche, Hasso Plattner, Dietmar Hopp |
| Business Engineering | Michael Rogowski |
* 1968 - 1983 Professor Dr. Dr.-Ing. h. c. Heinz Draheim
* 1983 - 1994 Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinz Kunle
* 1994 - 2002 Professor Dr.
Sigmar Wittig* 2002 - current Professor Dr. sc. tech.
Horst Hippler[Office of the President of Universität Fridericiana]*
University Homepage**
Facts & Figures**
Further Facts & Figures (PDF, 2004, German)
