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This hall is famous for its magnificent historical
machines and equally fantastic lecturers.

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Names like 'Professor Coppens', 'Van den Bulck' and
'Theo Van der Waeteren' resound in these halls.

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So much so, in fact, that this hall
is sometimes also called '<i>Theo's museum</i>'.

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But first let's explore some history.

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The Electromechanical Institute opened at KU Leuven
at the beginning of the 20th century.

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At the time,
it was still located in the town centre.

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It was part of the Special Schools, in which lie
the historical roots of the engineering programme.

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The new programme capitalised on the emergence
of all kinds of machines

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that had become popular thanks to
the industrial revolution.

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The Special Schools moved to the Arenberg Campus
during the interbellum,

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and this eventually resulted in the construction
of this Thermotechnical Institute.

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In 1938,
Professor Coppens conducted an experiment.

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He had a brick dropped in the exhaust of
this Rolls-Royce Derwent jet engine.

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This "test" has been conducted
every year since;

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the brick is dropped into the stream
of the jet engine

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and propelled outwards – to the great delight
of the engineering students.

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However, these are not all jet engines.

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This steam engine for example,
with its gigantic flywheel,

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is the only engine of its kind in Belgium
that still runs on live steam.