Karolinska Institutet turns 200 this year

[PRESS RELEASE 11 January, 2010] Today, Monday 11 January 2010, Karolinska Institutet is launching the start of its 200th jubilee with the official opening of its Hall of Fame, a gallery of leading researchers and other luminaries from our past, the unveiling of a glass sculpture depicting a photograph by science photographer Lennart Nilsson, and the showing of an introductory film about the past, present and future of the university. Join us in our celebrations, and go in to ki.se/200 to view the film.

Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. During the jubilee year, of which HM King Carl XVI Gustaf is the patron, we will be stepping up our efforts to spread new knowledge and ideas to the wider community in order to contribute to the improvement of human health.

"The jubilee year is an excellent opportunity to broadcast everything that our scientists and staff have achieved over the years," says President Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson. 2The biggest events in 2010 will be activities that concern culture, children and young people, and scientific conferences for the international scientific community."

Some activities scheduled for the jubilee year

The Swedish Television learning channel (kunskapskanalen) will be running a series of popular science lectures by Karolinska Institutet researchers. The programmes address subjects such as common diseases, child and adolescent health problems, and the importance of exercise and a healthy lifestyle. We will be announcing the latest research findings on web TV and showing short films about the daily lives of doctoral students and their thoughts about what drives them to do research.

A book and picture exhibition will be held between May and August at Prince Eugen's Waldemarsudde in Stockholm, offering an exciting journey through the mysteries of the human body, with images from one of the world's finest medical libraries - the Hagströmer Library at Karolinska Institutet.

The Swedish post office will be issuing two stamps this spring depicting silicon and selenium, two of the elements discovered by Karolinska Institutet's co-founder Jöns Jacob Berzelius. The photographs to be used were taken by another distinguished figure, Lennart Nilsson, who still works at our university.

On the university's actual founding day, 13 December, KI students will be arranging an inspiration day for the future, where they will be enthused and motivated by successful alumni as they pass on the baton of scientific research - on the very day two centuries later that the then king of Sweden, Karl XIII, signed the document that marked the birth of Karolinska Institutet.

For more details of the activities and events taking place in celebration of KI's 200th jubilee, see the diary of events on ki.se/200.

• KI 200 Years

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