Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
University in Karlsruhe established in 2009 from the merger of the University of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Research Center
About This School
How does this school stack up?
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is a direct descendent of the University of Karlsruhe, founded in 1825 on the model of the French polytechnic institute.
In 1865, Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden promoted the school to Hochschule (college) status, for which reason the school was long known as the “Fridericiana.”
In 1885 the school was renamed the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe (College of Technology, Karlsruhe).
In 1956 a German national nuclear research facility was founded under the name of the Karlsruhe Research Center. In 2009, the university and the research center were merged and renamed the KIT.
Today, the KIT consists of 11 “faculties” (schools), with a total student population of approximately 25,000 spread over five campuses around the city of Karlsruhe and three other campuses located elsewhere in Germany.
In addition, the KIT runs a geophysical observatory, the Black Forest Observatory, in cooperation with Stuttgart University.
The KIT is linked to six Nobel Prize--winners, some of whom are listed below. Other distinguished KIT-connected people include the following:
STEM Disciplines
- Mathematician, Johann Jakob Balmer
- Engineer, industrialist, Karl Friedrich Benz
- Physicist, Nobel laureate, Karl Ferdinand Braun
- Chemist, Nobel laureate, Fritz Haber
- Mathematician, George Hamel
- Physicist, Heinrich Hertz
- Biochemist, Georg von Hevesy
- Telecommunications engineer, computer software entrepreneur, Dietmar Hopp
- Physicist, Otto Lehmann
- Architect, Ludwig Levy
- Computer software entrepreneur, Hasso Plattner
- Chemist, Nobel laureate, Leopold Ružička
- Computer scientist, Peter Sanders
- Architect, Amin Shokrollahi
- Engineer, industrialist, Emil Škoda
- Architect, Albert Speer
- Chemist, Nobel laureate, Hermann Staudinger
- Computer scientist, Karl Steinbuch
- Engineer, industrialist, August Thyssen
- Chemist, Georg Wilhelm Steinkopf
- Physicist, Edward Teller
- Physicist, computer software entrepreneur, Klaus Tschira
- Architect, Oswald Mathias Ungers
- Chemist, Helmut Zahn
What is Karlsruhe Institute of Technology known for?
Influential People
Who are Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's Most influential alumni?
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's most influential alumni faculty include professors and professionals in the fields of Chemistry, Computer Science, and Engineering. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology’s most academically influential people include Bernhard Eitel, Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, and Oswald Helmuth Göhring.