Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
This is the body that picks up the phone to tell physicists and chemists they've won the Nobel Prize.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Stockholm offline.
Founded on 2 June 1739, this independent, non-governmental academy has been shaping global science ever since. Every autumn it selects the Nobel laureates in physics and chemistry, the Economics Prize, and the Crafoord Prize — a remarkably broad award spanning astronomy, mathematics, geosciences, ecology, and rheumatoid arthritis research. The grounds sit inside Stockholm's Royal National City Park, placing hard science inside one of Europe's rare urban nature reserves.
What to look for
- The Nobel Prize mandate: physics and chemistry laureates are chosen here each year, not in Oslo
- The Crafoord Prize scope — it covers fields as far apart as astronomy and polyarthritis, underscoring how wide the academy's reach runs
- The Royal National City Park setting — an independent scientific institution operating inside a protected urban parkland
Located within the Stockholm region's Royal National City Park — combine with a walk through the park to make the most of the trip.
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is one of 34 sights worth the detour in Stockholm, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Stockholm pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Stockholm
- Avicii ArenaA 110-metre sphere that serves as the Sun in the world's largest scale model of the solar system — and you can walk right up to it.
- Skogskyrkogården (The Woodland Cemetery)A 1920 cemetery built on old pine-covered gravel quarries that went on to reshape how the world designs burial grounds.
- Stockholm PalaceThe same ground has held a royal residence since the 1250s — the current palace took nearly six decades to finish, outlived its architect, and the Rococo interiors are largely unchanged.
- Vasa MuseumA 64-gun warship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 — and is still almost entirely intact.
- Skansen150 actual Swedish buildings, shipped piece by piece to one hill — a whole country preserved before industry erased it.
- NationalmuseumSweden's royal art collection, wrested from a bankrupt queen and given to the public — now in a fully restored 1866 palace on the water.