Off to the archive

As part of the event series "Auf ins Archiv!", the TUM Archive regularly offers public guided tours. Every first Wednesday of the month, at 5 p.m., you have the opportunity to gain new insights into the archive holdings and the history of TUM - you are cordially invited! The next guided tour on December 3 is dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the right to award doctorates at TUM.

There are currently over 1,200 doctorates awarded at TUM every year. However, this was not always the case, as the right to award doctorates at technical universities had to be fought for hard. At the end of the 19th century, the polytechnic schools were not considered equal to the universities, but were rather regarded as vocational training centers. In 1901, almost 125 years ago, the Technical University of Munich - at that time still a technical university - was finally granted the right to award doctorates. This brought it a decisive step closer to equality with the older, traditional universities.

In the public tour through our magazine, we present selected originals from the TUM archive, including doctoral files, certificates and books, in which all doctorates awarded at TUM are recorded. A special feature is the colorful collection of doctoral hats from the Chair of Technical Electrophysics. Imaginative designs with ingenious technical details have adorned the heads of recent graduates since the 1960s. The creative decoration was no coincidence: it related to the subject of the dissertation and expressed the personal hobbies of the doctoral candidates.

The tour will be followed by a pre-Christmas drink.

Admission is free for all.