A Nordic Collaboration

Nordita is the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics. Its purpose is to carry out research and strengthen the Nordic collaboration within the basic areas of theoretical physics.

Reflecting the Nordic background, the institute has an official name in each of the five Nordic languages:

  • Nordisk institut for teoretisk fysik (in Danish)
  • Teoreettisen fysiikan pohjoismainen laitos (in Finnish)
  • Norræna stofnunin í kennilegri eðlisfræði (in Icelandic)
  • Nordisk institutt for teoretisk fysikk (in Norwegian)
  • Nordiska institutet för teoretisk fysik (in Swedish)

Also, the five colours in the Nordita logotype have been taken from the specifications of the national flags of the five Nordic countries:

Two versions of the Nordita logotype The colours of the Nordita logotype have been taken from the flags of the Nordic countries

History

Nordita was founded as the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Atomic Physics in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 1 October, 1957, under the ownership of the Nordic Council of Ministers and located at the premises of the Niels Bohr Institute.

The Nordita building in Copenhagen, and the building in Stockholm.

After the move to Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2007, Nordita is hosted jointly by KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University. Nordita was at first housed in three of the buildings of the AlbaNova University Center, and moved in March 2021 to a new building in the adjacent Albano Campus.

Organization

Nordita has a governing Board, appointed jointly by the President/Vice-chancellor of the host universities KTH and Stockholm University, with one representative and one alternate member from each of the five Nordic countries, nominated by the respective research councils. The Chairman of the Board is nominated by the Joint Committee of the Nordic Natural Science Research Councils, NOS-N.

The Nordita board

The Nordita board nominates a Director, responsible for the day-to-day administration of the institute, who is appointed by the President/Vice-chancellor of KTH and Stockholm University.

Since Nordita is not a legal entity in its own right, the institute is administratively organized as an independent unit in one of the two host universities, Stockholm University, reporting directly to the Vice-chancellor.

Funding

Until 2006, Nordita was funded by the five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden through the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Currently Nordita funding is shared between the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Swedish Research Council, the two host universities KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, and Uppsala University.

The main Nordita funding agencies

Evaluations

Nordita has been evaluated by external experts at regular intervals through the years, most recently in the spring of 2009. Nordita has also prepared self-evaluation reports for the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Brochures

Back in the days when people still read printed matter, Nordita published three brochures presenting the institute.

Nordita brochures