Mölndal
Encyclopedia
Mölndal is a part of the Gothenburg urban area
Gothenburg urban area
Gothenburg urban area is the second largest of the 1,940 localities or urban areas in Sweden. As such it has no administrative or political significance, but is a geographical and statistical entity...

 on the west-coast of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, and constitutes the administrative centre of Mölndal Municipality
Mölndal Municipality
Mölndal Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden, just south of Gothenburg...

. About 40,000 of the municipality's 60,000 inhabitants live here.

Geography

Mölndal is located on the western main line railway between Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

 and Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

 and the European highways E6
European route E6
European route E 6 is the designation for the main north-south road in Norway, and the west coast of Sweden, running from the southern tip of Sweden, at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the country north to Finnmark. The route ends close to the Norwegian border with Russia...

/E20
European route E20
The European route E 20 is part of the United Nations International E-road network.It runs roughly west-east through Ireland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and finally Russia. The length is . The road is not continuous, at three points, a sea crossing is required. ...

 run through the area from north to south. Mölndal is served by the Gothenburg tram
Gothenburg tram
The Gothenburg tram network is part of the public transport system organised by Göteborgs Spårvägar AB, controlled by Västtrafik in the Swedish city of Gothenburg...

way system.

History

The name of the city derives from two words; Möln, which is a short form for Möllor, an old word for mills
Mill (grinding)
A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water...

, and the word dal, which is the Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 word for valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...

. Mölndal is the "Valley of mills". The narrow but high and long waterfall
Waterfall
A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

s in Kvarnbyn gave the necessary power to all the watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

s that together with the windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

s on the hills gave birth to the early industrialisation
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...

 of Mölndal.

Industry

Mölndal is best known for its high concentration of companies in the life sciences. AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca plc is a global pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's seventh-largest pharmaceutical company measured by revenues and has operations in over 100 countries...

 has one of its global research centres here with more than 3,100 employees. Several other companies in areas of research such as pharmaceuticals, biomedicine
Biomedicine
Biomedicine is a branch of medical science that applies biological and other natural-science principles to clinical practice,. Biomedicine, i.e. medical research, involves the study of physiological processes with methods from biology, chemistry and physics. Approaches range from understanding...

, and biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

 are also located here. The proximity to Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology
Chalmers University of Technology
Chalmers University of Technology , is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that focuses on research and education in technology, natural science and architecture.-History:...

 with their technology parks, has supported development of other sectors such as microwave
Microwave
Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...

 technology and information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

. Two national research institutes, IFP SICOMP AB and IVF Industrial Research and Development Corporation, are also located in Mölndal.

Sports

The following sports clubs are located in Mölndal:
  • Fässbergs IF
    Fässbergs IF
    Fässbergs IF is a Swedish football club, founded in 1916. They are based in Mölndal, near Gothenburg. The team won the Svenska Mästerskapet in 1924.-Background:...

  • Balltorps FF
    Balltorps FF
    Balltorps FF is a Swedish football club located in Mölndal.-Background:Balltorps FF currently plays in Division 4 Göteborg B which is the sixth tier of Swedish football. They play their home matches at the Förbovallen in Mölndal....

  • Dalen/Krokslätts FF
    Dalen/Krokslätts FF
    Dalen/Krokslätts FF is a Swedish football club located in Mölndal.-Background:Dalen/Krokslätts Fotbollsförening is a football club from the district of Krokslätt in Gothenburg. The club played under the name Krokslätts FF and for eight seasons competed in the second highest Swedish league...


Famous people from Mölndal

  • Mats Leven
    Mats Levén
    Mats Levén is a singer. His most notable recent collaborations have been with symphonic metallers Therion and doom metallers Krux.-Biography:...

  • Annelie Pompe
    Annelie Pompe
    - External links :* * by Annelie Pompe...

    , world record holder in Variable weights freediving
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