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University of Karlsruhe
Universität Karlsruhe (TH)
AudiMax
Established	October 7, 1825
Type:	Public
Rector:	Horst Hippler
Faculty:	276
Staff:	3,642
Students:	18,245
Location	Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (49°00′34″N 8°24′42″E / 49.00944, 8.41167Coordinates: 49°00′34″N 8°24′42″E / 49.00944, 8.41167)
Website:	www.uni-karlsruhe.de

The Universität Karlsruhe (TH) (also called Fridericiana / University of Karlsruhe) recently merged with Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe to form the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). It is a mainly technical university in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany and is a leading research university. No natural science university in Germany receives more funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft than the Universität Karlsruhe (except in Biology where it is not under the TOP 20^[1]) ^[2]. However the university is not in the TOP20 in the subjects mathematics ^[3] in 2006. In the engineering sciences (except mechanical engineering where it is in the top10^[4]) the university is in the top three together with University of Stuttgart and the RWTH Aachen.

With regard to research and teaching it is among the best German universities. This is demonstrated for example by the proportion of international students studying there, namely over twenty per cent. 6 tenth of a percent of all students receive grants from the German Studienstiftung (German National Academic Foundation) which only accepts the most talented. No other university with a focus on natural sciences and technology is more attractive for those sponsoring students. ^[5]

The faculty of chemistry belongs to "the cream of the crop in chemistry" in the world (in 1998).^[6]

Contents 1 History 2 Admission and Education 3 Faculties 4 Famous people and discoveries 4.1 Famous students 5 Presidents 6 References 7 External links

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. In 1865 Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden (German: Friedrich) raised the school to the status of Hochschule ("Institute/University"), 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 Universität (a full University). In 1899 all technical universities and therefore the University of Karlsruhe were granted the right to award doctorates (Dr. Ing.).

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. ^[7]

The Universität Karlsruhe (TH) has for a long time not been selective in its admission.

In more recent years, several majors have employed a selection process with an effective exclusion grade based on the amount of available spots and the number of applications. Since the winter semester 2007/08 the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) introduced a general selection process for all courses. Now, after the change from a diploma system to bachelor/master studies, the students of all majors are selected by a specific process determining the qualification of the students for the intended topic.^[8] Apart from this, the actual selection process takes place in the early semesters, where students failing to pass specific exams after a given time or number of tries drop out of university. 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:

1. Mathematics
2. Physics
3. Chemistry and Biology
4. Humanities and Social sciences
5. Architecture
6. Civil engineering, Geology and Ecological sciences
7. Mechanical engineering
8. Chemical and process engineering
9. Electrical engineering and Information technology
10. Computer Science
11. Economics

Many 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

Department	Names
Architecture	Oswald Mathias Ungers, Albert Speer
Civil Engineering und Geology	Robert Gerwig, Dieter Ludwig
Mechanical Engineering	Carl Benz, Emil von Škoda (Škoda), Bernhard Howaldt, Franz Reuleaux, August Thyssen, Roland Mack
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
Industrial Engineering	Franz Fehrenbach, Stefan Quandt, 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^[9]

1. ^ http://www.dfg.de/ranking/ranking2006/download/dfg_foerderranking_4_3.pdf
2. ^ Exzellent in Naturwissenschaften. 03.07.2003
3. ^ http://www.dfg.de/ranking/ranking2006/download/dfg_foerderranking_4_8.pdf
4. ^ http://www.dfg.de/ranking/ranking2006/download/dfg_foerderranking_4_10.pdf
5. ^ Die Eliteschmiede
6. ^ ScienceWatch: Chemistry Research. Institutions Ranked by Citations and Citation Impact. July/August 1998
7. ^ The strategy for the future
8. ^ University of Karlsruhe, Administration: "Eignungsfeststellungsverfahren" (German, accessed on 11/17/2007)
9. ^ Office of the President of Universität Fridericiana

• University of Karlsruhe Homepage
  • Facts & Figures
  • Further Facts & Figures (PDF, 2004, German)

v • d • e German Excellence Universities
RWTH Aachen • FU Berlin • University of Freiburg • University of Göttingen • University of Heidelberg • University of Karlsruhe • University of Konstanz • LMU Munich • TU Munich