KTH's earliest Swedish predecessor was the
Laboratorium Mechanicum, a collection of mechanical models for teaching created in 1697 by
Christopher Polhem. Polhem is considered to be the 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. The mechanical models that formed the basis of the education were used intermittently for teaching practical mechanics by different masters until the School of Mechanics (
Mekaniska skolan) was founded in 1798. In 1827 the School of Mechanics was transformed into the Technological Institute (
Teknologiska institutet), following the establishment of polytechnical schools in many European countries the early 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
physics, and 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 1844 to solve the issues, which led to removing Schwartz in 1845. Instead, Joachim Åkerman, the head of the School of Mining in
Falun and a former professor of chemistry at KTH, took over. He led a full reorganisation of the institute in 1846–1848, after which he returned to his post in Falun. An entrance test and a minimum age of 16 for students was introduced, which led to creating proper engineering training at the institute. In 1851, the engineering program was extended from two years to three. In the late 1850s, the institute entered a time of expansion. In 1863, it received its own purpose-built buildings on
Drottninggatan. In 1867, its regulations were again overhauled, to state explicitly that the institute should provide scientific training to its students. In 1869, the School of Mining in Falun was moved to Stockholm and merged with the institute. In 1871, the institute took over the
civil engineering course formerly arranged by the Higher Artillery College in
Marieberg. In 1877, the name was changed into the current one, which changed KTH's status from Institute (
institut) to College (
högskola), and some courses were extended from three years to four. Architecture was also added to the curriculum. In 1915, the 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 in 1937,
Chalmers in
Gothenburg became the second Swedish engineering college which were allowed to confirm these titles. In 1917, the first buildings of KTH's new campus on
Valhallavägen were completed, and still constitute its main campus. Although the engineering education of 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. In 1927, KTH was finally granted the right to confer its own doctorates, under the designation
Teknologie doktor (Doctor of Technology), and the first five doctors were created in 1929. In 1984, the
civilingenjör programs at all Swedish universities were extended from four years to 4.5. From 1989, the shorter programs in technology arranged by the municipal polytechnical schools in Sweden were gradually extended and moved into the university system, from 1989 as two-year programs and from 1995 alternatively as three-year programs. For KTH, this meant that additional campuses around the Stockholm area were added. In the present-day, KTH provides one-third of Sweden's research and engineering education. In 2019, there were a total of 13,500 undergraduate students, 1,700 doctoral students, and 3,600 staff members at the university.
R1 nuclear reactor 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. 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), 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 was deemed tolerable since the reactor was an important research tool for scientists at the
Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (
Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien). At 18:59 on 13 July 1954, the reactor achieved
criticality 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.
Motto The motto of KTH, "Vetenskap och konst," is directly translated as "Science and Art." Here, the word
konst (art) does not necessarily refer to
creative art as the word typically does in its English usage. Rather,
konst paired with
vetenskap (science) more precisely describes the
konst of putting scientific knowledge into practice; that is, through
ingenjörskonst (engineering, literally "art of engineering"). Hence, another possible translation of the motto is "Science and the Art of its Application." ==Schools==