Editing Stockholm University (section)

==History==
The initiative for the formation of Stockholm University was taken by the Stockholm City Council. The process was completed after a decision in December 1865 regarding the establishment of a fund and a committee to "establish a higher education institution in the capital".<ref name=Thomasson>Thomasson, Carl-Gustaf, Stockholms högskolas matrikel 1878–1887. Stockholm 1969, sid. 52</ref> The nine members of the committee were respected and prominent citizens whose work had helped the evolution of science and society.<ref name="Engström">Engström, Eric, Stockholms högskolas gynnare. Givare och donatorer under högskolans uppbyggnadsskede. Uppsats, pedagogiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet (årtal?)</ref>

The next important step was taken in October 1869, when the Stockholm University College Association was established.<ref name=NF>Nordisk familjebok, Uggleupplagan 27, Stockholm Nynäs järnväg&nbsp;– Syrsor: Stockholms högskola, 1918</ref> Several members of the committee became members of the association&nbsp;– including Professor Pehr Henrik Malmsten.<ref name="högskola">Svensk Uppslagsbok: Stockholms högskola, Baltiska förlaget A.-B., Lund: 1929</ref> The association's mission was to establish a college in Stockholm and would "not be dissolved until the college came into being and its future could be considered secure." The memorandum of the Stockholm University College was adopted in May 1877, and in the autumn semester of the following year, actual operations began.

In 1878, the [[university college]] ''Stockholms högskola'' started its operations with a series of lectures on natural sciences, open to curious citizens (a tradition still upheld by yearly publicly open lectures).  Notable in the university's early history is the appointment of [[Sofia Kovalevskaya]] to hold a chair in the mathematics department in 1889, making her the third female professor in Europe. In 1904 the college became an official degree-granting institution.

[[File:Experimentalfältet (Fredrik Bloms hus).jpg|thumb|right|[[Fredrik Blom]]'s house at Experimentalfältet, now used for the central administration of Stockholm University]]
In 1960, the college was granted university status, becoming Sweden's fourth state university. The university premises were situated in central Stockholm at ''Observatorielunden'' but increased enrollment resulted in a lack of space, which required the university campus to be shifted to a bigger facility. Since 1970 most of the university operations are located at the main campus at [[Frescati (Stockholm)|Frescati]] north of the city center, the former Experimentalfältet, previously used by the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry]].