Seite - 12 - in Nikola Tesla and the Graz Tech

12 Graz University of Technology – Archduke Johann University – is an integral part of the intellectual life of our country. It justifiably counts as one of the centres of scientific research and teaching and thus represents an essential element of our society. In fact, it goes beyond the national aspect and em- braces both the European and even the international context of academic institutions (see Wohinz, Josef W. /12/). When the term ‘Graz school’ is used in many places, it expresses a certain degree of charisma and recognition at the same time. This recognition, of course, refers to the personalities working there as well as to the shared plat- form of technology and engineering in Graz. The following examples can be referred to here: architecture, civil engineering, automotive engineering and engine construction, engineering management, space research, telematics and microchemistry. Integration into the overall picture and the role as a university here and today can be seen as a result of a long-term development. Today’s Graz University of Technology can look back to its beginnings as a foundation of Archduke Johann of Austria in the year 1811. He handed over his scientific collections to the ‘estates’ of the Duchy of Styria and the ‘Joan- neum’ named after it became a nucleus of the later development into a uni- versity. In the course of an organisational reform in 1827, an ‘academy of the estates’ was established at the Joanneum and the first director of studies (Ludwig Crophius, Edler von Kaiserssieg) was appointed. In 1864 this became the College of Technology at the Joanneum in Graz. In 1872 an organic statute was enacted for the Regional College of Technology at the Joanneum in Graz. Finally in 1874, this was transformed into the Imperial and Royal College of Technology in Graz. At this time the College of Technology was still located at the seat of the Joanneum, in the so-called Lesliehof at Raubergasse 10. Only with the festive opening of the new building at Rechbauerstrasse 12 (to- day’s Alte Technik) was the Lesliehof site discontinued. In a commemorative publication /2/ it is noted: The Graz Tech: A tradition of innovation