The history of the Leibniz University Hannover goes back to the year 1831 when, under the direction of Karl Karmarsch, the Höhere Gewerbeschule was opened in the house of the brewer, manufacturer of spirits and vinegar manufacturer Christian Wilhelm Bornemann. The initially 64 students were able to study 14 subjects, including mathematics, architecture, mechanical engineering, natural history, physics, chemistry, technology (manufacturing technology), drawing, bosses and accounting. In addition, a preparatory course for mathematics was offered.
Six years later, the school moved to a newly built building on Georgstraße in the heart of Hanover, at the site of today's Kröpcke-Center. At the beginning of the 1840s, the school experienced growth in connection with the beginning of railway construction. In 1844, 280 students were enrolled. In 1847, the school was named "Polytechnic School". By 1853, the number of subjects had almost tripled. In 1854/55, one of the then most modern chemical laboratories in Germany was set up there.
The Polytechnic School reached its preliminary peak in 1875 with 868 students and interns. In the same year, the founder and director Karl Karmarsch retired after 44 years in office. His successor was the civil engineer Wilhelm Launhardt, who in the following years forced the expansion of the Polytechnic School to become a technical university. Also starting from 1875 the admission certificate was demanded and the curriculum reformed. An important event in the history of the University of Hanover was the entry into the Welfenschloss in 1879, which had been rebuilt after the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by Prussia in 1866 for the purposes of a university.
On April 1, 1879, the Polytechnic School received the official designation "Royal Technical College" and was subordinated immediately to the Prussian Ministry in Berlin. As a result of the college constitution of 1880, five departments emerged within the college
In 1896, as part of technological progress, the university received a mechanical engineering laboratory to enable teaching and research under the conditions of industrial practice.
On the occasion of the centenary of the Royal Technical University of Charlottenburg in 1899 Emperor Wilhelm II granted the Prussian technical colleges the right to award the academic degrees of a PhD engineer and a graduate engineer. Thus, the technical colleges were equal to the universities. On April 14, 1909, the technical colleges of Prussia were opened for enrollment for women.
After the end of the First World War, the number of students reached a temporary high of around 3,000. At RWTH Aachen University, 1,440 students were enrolled at the same time; in Brunswick 1,180. The economic hardship that plagued many students in the aftermath of the war led to the founding of Studentenhilfe in 1921, which in 1922 took over the operation of the refectory. In the same year, the previous departments of the Technical University and the reorganization in three faculties was canceled
Shortly after the seizure of power by the National Socialists formed in the course of the "action against the undeutschen spirit" a three-headed "combat committee", which belonged to the representative of the College Victor Curt Habicht. The college was a collection point for those books that were destroyed on 10 May 1933 by the book burning in Hanover on the Bismarck pillar, while several speakers, including again Victor Curt Habicht, held their "stirring" speeches
