Among the world’s great medical universities, Karolinska Institutet has launched its 200th birthday celebrations with the opening of the Hall of Fame gallery that shows past researchers and luminaries, the unveiling of a glass sculpture depicting science photography by Lennart Nilsson (still working at KI), and a film describing KI.

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf is the patron during the jubilee year during which a televised series will feature popular science lectures by KI researchers. Also, a book and picture exhibition between May-Aug. at Prince Eugen’s Waldemarsudde examines the human body with images from the Hagströmer Library at KI, and Sweden's post office will release two stamps depicting elements discovered by KI’s co-founder, Jöns Jacob Berzelius.

“The biggest events in 2010 will be activities that concern culture, children and young people, and scientific conferences for the international scientific community,” says President Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson.

Each year, Karolinska Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine that is awarded in elaborate ceremonies in early December. The Swedish holiday of Lucia, Dec. 13, coincides with day of the university’s actual founding by the King of Sweden back in 1810, Karl XIII.