Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology
Technische Universiteit Delft
Motto	Challenge the Future
Established	January 8, 1842[1]
Type	Public, technical
Endowment	€492M[2]
President	Drs. D.J. van den Berg[3]
Rector	Prof.dr.ir. J.T. Fokkema[3]
Staff	1,877[4]
Students	16,369[5]
Location	Delft, The Netherlands 52°0′6″N 4°22′21″E / 52.00167°N 4.3725°E / 52.00167; 4.3725Coordinates: 52°0′6″N 4°22′21″E / 52.00167°N 4.3725°E / 52.00167; 4.3725
Website	http://home.tudelft.nl/en/

The Delft University of Technology (Dutch: Technische Universiteit Delft) in Delft, the Netherlands, is the nation's largest technical university, with over 15,000 students, 2,700 scientists (including 200 professors) and 1,800 people in the support and management staff. It is a member of the IDEA League and ranks amongst the top universities in the world in the field of technology according to the Times Higher Education ranking (second best university of technology in continental Europe, after ETH Zurich, Switzerland)^[6].

History

On January 8, 1842, King Willem II founded the 'Royal Academy for the education of civilian engineers, for serving both nation and industry, and of apprentices for trade'. The Academy also educated civil servants for the colonies and revenue officers of the Dutch East Indies.

An Act passed on May 2, 1863, imposing regulations on technical education as well as bringing it under the influence of the rules applying to secondary education. Then, on the 20th of June, 1864, a Royal Decree was issued, ordering that the Royal Academy in Delft be disbanded in order to make way for a new 'Polytechnic School'. The School went on to educate architects, and engineers in the fields of civil works, shipbuilding, mechanical engineering and mining.

On May 22, 1905, an Act was passed, acknowledging the academic level of the School's technical education - it became a 'Technische Hogeschool', or an 'Institute of Technology'. Queen Wilhelmina attended the Institute's official opening ceremony on July 10, 1905. The Institute's first Rector Magnificus was the professor of hydraulic engineering ir. J. Kraus. The Institute was granted corporate rights by an Act passed on June 7, 1956.

It was an Act which took effect on 1st September, 1986, that officially transformed the Institute of Technology into Delft University of Technology, also known as 'TU Delft'.

Campus

Initially, all of the university buildings were located in the historic city centre of Delft. This changed in the second half of the 20th century with relocations to a separate university neighbourhood. The last university building in the historic centre was the University Library, which was relocated to a new building in 1997. On the 12th of September 2006 the design of the Mekelpark was officially approved^[7], giving a green light to the transformation of the area around the Mekelweg (the main road on the university terrain) into a new campus heart: the Mekelpark^[8]. The new park will replace the main access road and redirect car traffic around the campus, making the newly created park a safer place for bicycles and pedestrians. The completion of the project is due in June 2009.

Faculties

Auditorium of Delft University of Technology.

The snow-covered grass roof of the library.

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.

Nuna 3 of the defending champion, and 4-time victors, Nuna team

The Delft University of Technology comprises eight faculties:^[9]

• 3mE; Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
• BK; Architecture
• CiTG; Civil Engineering and Geosciences
• EWI; Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
• IO; Industrial Design Engineering
• LR; Aerospace Engineering
• TBM; Technology, Policy and Management
• TNW; Applied Sciences

Education

Undergraduate Programs

All undergraduate programs lead to a B.Sc. degree.

• Aerospace Engineering
• Applied Earth Science
• Applied Mathematics
• Applied Physics
• Architecture
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Industrial design engineering
• Life Science & Technology
• Marine Technology
• Mechanical Engineering
• Molecular Science & Technology
• Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis & Management

Graduate Programs

The university offers the following graduate programs (sorted by faculty). All programs lead to a M.Sc. degree.

• Aerospace Engineering
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Geomatics
• Applied Sciences
  • Applied Physics
  • Biochemical Engineering
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Life Science & Technology
  • NanoScience
  • Science Education & Communication
  • Sustainable Energy Technology (SET) (In cooperation with the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Twente)
  • Teacher programme (TULO)
• Architecture
  • Architecture
  • Building Technology
  • Real Estate & Housing
  • Urbanism
• Civil Engineering and Geosciences
  • Applied Earth Sciences
  • Civil Engineering (with a specialisation in: Hydraulic Engineering, Building Engineering, Structural Engineering, Transport & Planning, Water Management or Geo-Engineering)
  • Geomatics
  • Offshore Engineering
  • Transport, Infrastructure & Logistics (in cooperation with the faculties of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering and Technology, Policy and Management)
• Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Computer Engineering
  • Computer Science
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Electrical Power Engineering (track)
  • Microelectronics (track)
  • Telecommunications (track)
  • Embedded Systems
  • Media & Knowledge Engineering
  • Bioinformatics (track)
• Industrial Ecology (in cooperation with Leiden University and Rotterdam Erasmus University)
  • Integrated systems analysis (track)
  • Technological systems innovation (track)
  • Organisation and transition management (track)
• Industrial Design Engineering
  • Design for Interaction
  • Integrated Product Design
  • Strategic Product Design
• Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Marine Technology
  • Materials Science & Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Offshore Engineering
  • Systems & Control
  • Transport, Infrastructure & Logistics (in cooperation with the faculties of Civil Engineering and Geosciences and Technology, Policy and Management)
• Technology, Policy and Management
  • Engineering & Policy Analysis
  • Geomatics
  • Management of Technology
  • Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis & Management
  • Transport, Infrastructure & Logistics (in cooperation with the faculties of Civil Engineering and Geosciences and Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering)

Institutes

The Delft University of Technology has the following legally recognised research institutes:

• Delft Institute for Information technology in Systems Engineering (DITSE)
• Delft Institute of Microelectronics and Submicron Technology (DIMES)
• International Research Centre for Telecommunications-transmission and Radar (IRCTR)[1]
• Kavli Institute of Nanoscience
• Netherlands Institute of Metals Research (NIMR)
• Reactor Institute Delft (RID) (former Interfacultary Reactor Institute)
• The Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies (OTB)

Rectores Magnifici

• 1993–1997: Prof.ir. K.F. Wakker
• 1997–1998: Prof.dr.ir. J. Blauwendraad
• 1998–2002: Prof.ir. K.F. Wakker
• 2002-2010: Prof.dr.ir. J.T. Fokkema
• 2010 :Prof.ir. K.C.A.M. Luyben

Student societies

Part of student life in Delft is organised in student societies. About half of the Delft students are members.^[10] The list includes:

• AEGEE-Delft
• Civitas Studiosorum Reformatorum
• CSFR, dispuut "Johannes Calvijn"
• Delftsch Studenten Corps
• Delftsche Studenten Bond
• Delftsche Zwervers
• DSV Nieuwe Delft, better known as De Bolk
• Proteus-Eretes
• Laga
• Menschen Vereeniging Wolbodo
• Navigators Studentenvereniging Delft
• OJV de Koornbeurs
• Outsite
• Sanctus Virgilius
• Sint Jansbrug
• VGSD
• TUDelft Korean Student Association

For PhD candidates there is a special organisation representing their interests at the TU Delft:

• Promood, PROMOvendi Overleg Delft

There's also a students' union in Delft:

• VSSD, Vereniging voor Studie- en Studentenbelangen te Delft

TU Delft in University Rankings

The table below presents a comprehensive survey of TU Delft's position in two university rankings: ARWU and Times Higher Education. Empty spaces mean no ranking was performed for a given year.

Notable alumni

Engineering/Science

• Ad Bax, biophysicist
• Lodewijk van den Berg, Space Shuttle astronaut
• Martinus Beijerinck, microbiologist
• Dirk Coster, discovered the element Hafnium
• Eric van Egeraat, architect
• John Habraken, architect
• Herman Hertzberger, architect
• Jacobus van 't Hoff, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• Alexandre Horowitz, inventor of the Philishave
• Francine Houben, architect
• Warner T. Koiter, mechanical engineer
• Walter Lewin, professor of physics at MIT
• Winy Maas, architect
• Simon van der Meer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
• Felix Andries Vening Meinesz, geophysicist
• Willem Jan Neutelings, architect
• Michiel Riedijk, architect
• Jan Roskam, Ackers Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kansas
• Jan Arnoldus Schouten, mathematician
• Bernard Tellegen, scientist and inventor of the penthode and gyrator
• Johan van Veen, father of the Delta Works
• Nathalie de Vries, architect
• Adriaan van Wijngaarden, computer pioneer
• Kas Oosterhuis, architect

Government officials and executives

• Jan van Bemmel, former rector magnificus Erasmus Universiteit
• Wim Dik, former executive for KPN
• Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistani scientist
• Anton Mussert, Dutch wartime Nazi politician
• Cornelis Lely, governor of Suriname and projectleader for the Afsluitdijk
• Prince Johan-Friso of Orange-Nassau
• Gerard Philips, founder of Philips
• Frits Philips, former executive of Philips
• Jo Ritzen, former Dutch Secretary for Education
• Willem Schermerhorn, first Dutch Prime Minister after WWII
• Paul Smits, former executive of KPN
• Jeroen van der Veer, executive of Royal Dutch Shell
• Karien van Gennip, former assistant secretary of Economy
• Pieter Winsemius, former secretary of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment

Fire at Faculty of Architecture

May 13 Fire.

In the morning of May 13, 2008 a fire started in the main building of the faculty of architecture. The fire soon engulfed several floors of the southern wing of the building. As fire fighters struggled to control the blaze, the fire spread throughout the building which had been evacuated when the first fire alarm went off.

The damage to the building proved to be extensive. Parts of the northern wing had collapsed and it was feared that the rest of the building would follow. However, the library, considered to be one of the finest in Europe and containing several thousands of books, was undamaged. This collection also included rare maps and cartography dating to the 17th Century. Delft University employed specialists to remove the books and materials due to the structural instability of the building, and as of July 4, it has been confirmed that these books and maps have been safely removed and show no signs of damage. This is believed to be due to the fact that the fire spread upwards from the 6th Floor, whereas the library was located on the ground floor. Firefighters were also able to save the historic models and furniture, including chairs by Gerrit Rietveld and Le Corbusier.^[17] The Architecture building has been completely demolished. The former main building of the TU Delft is now used to house the faculty.

It is believed the fire was started by a ruptured water pipe which short circuited a coffee machine on the 6th floor of the building.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Technische Universiteit Delft

• Delft University of Technology homepage.
• (Dutch) Delft University of Technology homepage
• Promood, the representative body of PhDs at TU Delft
• (Dutch) VSSD, Delft's students' union
• Proteus-Eretes