Technical University of Munich

The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; German: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences.

Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the university now has additional campuses in Garching, Freising, Heilbronn, Straubing, Ottobrunn, and Singapore, with the Garching campus being its largest. The university is organized into seven schools, and is supported by numerous research centers. It is one of the largest universities in Germany, with 52,931 students and an annual budget of €1,892.9 million including the university hospital.

A University of Excellence under the German Universities Excellence Initiative, TUM is among the leading universities in the European Union. Its researchers and alumni include 18 Nobel laureates and 24 Leibniz Prize winners.

In 1868, King Ludwig II of Bavaria founded the Polytechnische Schule München with Karl Maximilian von Bauernfeind as founding director. The new school had its premises at Arcisstraße, where it is still located today. At that time, around 350 students were supervised by 24 professors and 21 lecturers. The institution was divided into six departments: The "General Department" (mathematics, natural sciences, humanities, law and economics), the "Engineering Department" (civil engineering and surveying), the "Building Construction Department" (architecture), the "Mechanical-Technical Department" (mechanical engineering), the "Chemical-Technical Department" (chemistry), and the "Agricultural Department".

In 1877, the Polytechnische Schule München became the Technische Hochschule München (TH München), and in 1901 it was granted the right to award doctorates. With an average of 2,600 to 2,800 students, the TH München was Germany's largest technical university, ahead of the TH Berlin. In 1970 the institution was renamed Technische Universität München.

In 1906, Anna Boyksen became the first female student to enroll in electrical engineering, after the Bavarian government had allowed women to study at technical universities in the German Empire. Martha Schneider-Bürger became the first German female civil engineer to graduate from the university in 1927.

In 1913, Jonathan Zenneck became director of the newly created Physics Institute.

During the Weimar Republic, the TH München faced the challenge of limited resources and was drawn into radical political conflicts during the November Revolution, the Great Depression, and the rise of Adolf Hitler. Two of the 16 Nazis killed in Hitler's failed coup attempt in 1923 were students at the university. The National Socialist German Students' League became the strongest faction in the General Students' Committee in 1930, and Jewish and politically unpopular professors were terrorized by the young students.