Technical University of Denmark

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Technical University of Denmark Danmarks Tekniske Universitet


Established	1829
Type	Public university
Rector	Graduate Engineer Lars Pallesen
Staff	4,000 (2,000 researchers)^[2]
Students	7,000 (2007 est.)^[1]
Location	Lyngby, Copenhagen, Denmark
Affiliations	EUA
Website	http://www.dtu.dk/

The Technical University of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, DTU) was founded in 1829 as the 'College of Advanced Technology' (Danish: Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt). The initiative was taken by the renowned physicist Hans Christian Ørsted (then a professor at the University of Copenhagen) who also served as its principal until his death in 1851.

From 1933 the institution was officially known as Danmarks Tekniske Højskole (DTH), which usually was translated as the 'Technical University of Denmark'. Finally on 1 April 1994, in connection with the joining of Danmarks Ingeniørakademi (DIA) and DTH, the Danish name was changed to Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, in order to include the word 'University', thus giving rise to the acronym DTU by which the university is commonly known today.

On January 1, 2007 the university was merged with the following Danish research centers: Forskningscenter Risø, Danmarks Fødevareforskning, Danmarks Fiskeriundersøgelser, Danmarks Rumcenter, and Danmarks Transport-Forskning.

The student union at DTU is Polyteknisk Forening (www.pf.dk), a 161-year old organisation that represents all DTU students.

1 Campus
2 Departments
3 Notable alumni and professors
4 References
5 External links

The university is located on a plain known as Lundtoftesletten in the northeastern end of the city of Lyngby. The area was previously home to the airfield Lundtofte Flyveplads.

The campus is roughly divided in half by the road Anker Engelunds Vej going in the east-west direction, and, perpendicular to that, by two lengthy, collinear parking lots located on either side of it. The campus is thus divided into four parts, referred to as quadrants, numbered 1 through 4 in correspondence with the conventional numbering of quadrants in the Cartesian coordinate system.