Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is a higher education institution in science and engineering located in Zürich, Switzerland. The full name is Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, with ETHZ also being an informal but common abbreviation. Locals often call it Polytechnic , from its original name Eidgenössisches Polytechnikum or Federal Polytechnic Institute. It has three main missions: education, research and technology transfer at the highest international level. Together with a few other specialized institutes, the two (ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne) form the ETH region, which is directly subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

The ETH School was founded in 1854 by the Swiss Confederation and opened in 1855 as a polytechnic institute (Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule). Initially it consisted of only 6 university faculties: architecture, civil engineering, mechanics, chemistry, forestry, and one faculty remaining for all branches of mathematics, natural sciences, literature, political and social sciences.

The ETH School is a federal institute (under the direct administration of the Swiss state), while the University of Zurich is a cantonal institute. The decision to create a new federal university was controversial at the time, because liberals strongly supported "federal universities", while conservatives wanted all universities are subject to individual state regulation, leaving libertarians with no place. Originally, both universities were located in the same buildings of the University of Zurich.

In 1909, the ETH program was reorganized into a true university and ETH was granted the right to train for a doctorate. In 1911 it was given its present name, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule. In 1924, a reorganization divided the university into 12 different faculties.

The ETH School is often ranked among the top universities in the world, roughly 3rd to 6th in Europe and 10th to 27th in worldwide rankings by the Universities Ranking System. in the world and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Ranked 12th in science and engineering in 2005 by Times magazine.

Historically, ETH is famous in the fields of chemistry, mathematics, and physics. There are 21 Nobel laureates who have been linked to ETH, counting only alumni and professors whose honored work has been done at ETH, including Albert Einstein in 1921. Recent Nobel Laureates most notably Kurt Wüthrich with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002.