The Korteweg-de Vries Instituut voor Wiskunde (KdV Institute) is the mathematical research institute of the Faculty of Science (Faculteit der Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Informatica) of the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Diederik Johannes Korteweg was the first professor on a mathematics chair at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (after its upgrade from Athenaeum into University in 1877); he was appointed in 1881. The institute in its present form was established in 1997. The first mathematical institute at the Universiteit van Amsterdam was established in 1921 by prof. L.E.J. Brouwer. Until after the Second World War, it was the only mathematical institute in the Netherlands.

The KdV Institute is responsible for mathematical research within our University. It also provides the lecturers and instructors for the mathematics teaching within the Science faculty (and some teaching outside this Faculty), for which the “Onderwijsinstituten” (teaching institutes) carry the formal responsibilities.

The KdV Institute was one of the founders of the Thomas Stieltjes Institute for Mathematics, and most of our staff belonged to one of its programs. Starting January 1, 2011 this research school has merged with two other Dutch research schools into the new Wiskunde onderzoekschool Nederland (WONDER), in which KdVI also participates.

In the last decade several Dutch research clusters in areas of mathematics were granted by NWO. The KdV Institute participated in the successful applications for the NWO research cluster Geometry and Quantum Theory (GQT), in which members of our Research Program Algebra, Geometry and Mathematical Physics participate, and the research cluster Stochastics – Theoretical and Applied Rersearch (STAR), in which members of our Research Program Stochastics participate. Members of our institute also participate in two other NWO research clusters: NDNS+ and Diamant. There is formal (and informal) cooperation with the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the VU University, both in Amsterdam, and with Eurandom in Eindhoven. Within the UvA we participate in the String Theory Group, a joint venture of the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITFA) and KdVI.