History

Polacksbacken was a meeting and camp site for the Uppland regiment from 1680 to 1912, when the regiment got barracks in the area. The regiment (S1) then moved to Enköping in 1982.

The place name Polacksbacken is mentioned in 1663 as "Pålack Backen" and in 1666 as "Polacksbaka". The source of the name is unknown, but may have been added at the coronation of Polish Sigismund in Uppsala, 1594.

The book "Polacksbacken, En gammal lägerplats" (only available in Swedish) from 1982 describes the history of the area.

An information technology center

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 the 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.). More information about the formation of the Department of Information Technology is available in the book "Från informationsbehandling till informationsteknologi: Institutionen för informationsteknologi söker sina rötter" (only available in Swedish).

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.

In 2000 Ångström Laboratory added stage 2, which is the southern part (excluding Building 7, which was erected in 2006). Architect Bengt Löfberg shares his exciting and personal story about the Ångström laboratory's building process 1992-2006 in the document Byggnaden tilkomst (only available in Swedish).

In 2013 FREIA Laboratory was added between Buildings 5 and 7. The construction of what was called "New Ångström" (buildings 9 and 10) began in 2018. The construction project included over 30,000 square metres and was completed in 2022.

Despite its current total of 70,000 m², the Ångström laboratory is not yet finished and there are plans for further expansions.