The HISTORY OF POLACKSBACKEN
From camping grounds and barracks to high-tech centre.
Polacksbacken served as a meeting place and camping ground for the Regiment of Uppland from 1680 to 1912, when the regiment built barracks in the area. The Signal Regiment S1 subsequently moved to Enköping in 1982. The place name “Polacksbacken” is referred to as “Pålack Backen” in 1662 and as Polacksbacken in 1666. Though the name’s origin is unknown, it may have come from the coronation of Polish King Sigismund in Uppsala in 1594. The 1982 book “Polacksbacken, En gammal lägerplats” (“Polacksbacken, an old camping ground”) recounts the area’s history.
An Information & Technology Centre
After the Uppland Regiment moved out of the premises in 1982, the barracks were rebuilt in stages. In 1987 the former Department of Computer Science, Administrative Data Processing (ADB) and the Department of Computer Engineering moved into this area. When it was inaugurated as part of Uppsala University in the autumn of 1992, the Departments of Computer Engineering and ADB/Computer Science had already been in place for more than five years. Initially the area was called the Mathematics and Information Technology Centre (MIC), but the name was changed to the Information Technology Centre (ITC) when the Department of Mathematics moved into offices in Ångström Laboratory (the name change was a decision by the Vice-Chancellor and was registered in December 2008.) Read about the formation of the Department of Information Technology.
Ångström Laboratory: An Ongoing History
Ångström Laboratory, built primarily to accommodate a clean room, was inaugurated in 1997. The building derives its name from Anders Jonas Ångström and his son, Knut Ångström, both professors of physics at Uppsala University in the 19th century. Additional reading about the Ångström family.
In 2000 Ångström Laboratory added stage 2, which is the southern part (excluding Building 7, which was erected in 2006). In 2013 FREIA Laboratory was added between Buildings 5 and 7.
In late 2017 the Vice-Chancellor approved the future investment in New Ångström, and construction of what would become Buildings 9 and 10 began in 2018. The construction project included over 30,000 square metres and was expected to be completed in 2022, which it also was.