Werner von Siemens
Werner von Siemens | |
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inventor |
Ernst Werner Siemens (
Biography
Early years
Ernst Werner Siemens was born in Lenthe,
Middle years
After finishing school, Siemens intended to study at the
Upon returning home from war, he chose to work on perfecting technologies that had already been established and eventually became known worldwide for his advances in various technologies. In 1843 he sold the rights to his first invention to
The company was internationalised soon after its founding. One brother of Werner represented him in England (Sir William Siemens) and another in St. Petersburg, Russia (Carl von Siemens), each earning recognition. Following his industrial career, he was ennobled in 1888, becoming Werner von Siemens. He retired from his company in 1890 and died in 1892 in Berlin.[citation needed]
The company, reorganized as
Later years
Apart from the pointer telegraph, Siemens made sufficient contributions to the development of
In May 1881, Siemens & Halske inaugurated the world's first electric tram service, in the Berlin suburb of Groß-Lichterfelde.[13] Siemens is also the father of the trolleybus, which he initially tried and tested on 29 April 1882, using his "Elektromote".
Personal life
He was married twice: first in 1852 to Mathilde Drumann (died 1 July 1867), the daughter of the historian
Siemens was an advocate of
A number of great factories in the hands of rich capitalists, in which "slaves of work" drag out their miserable existence, is not, therefore, the goal of the development of the age of natural science, but a return to individual labour, or where the nature of things demands it, the carrying on of common workshops by unions of workmen, who will receive a sound basis only through the general extension of knowledge and civilization, and through the possibility of obtaining cheaper capital.[15]
He also rejected the claim that science leads to materialism, stating instead:
Equally unfounded is the complaint that the study of science and the technical application of the forces of nature gives to mankind a thoroughly material direction, makes them proud of their knowledge and power, and alienates ideal endeavours. The deeper we penetrate into the harmonious action of natural forces regulated by eternal unalterable laws, and yet so thickly veiled from our complete comprehension, the more we feel on the contrary moved to humble modesty, the smaller appears to us the extent of our knowledge, the more active is our endeavour to draw more from the inexhaustible fountain of knowledge, and understanding, and the higher rises our admiration of the endless wisdom which ordains and penetrates the whole creation.[16][17][18]
Commemoration
Werner von Siemens' portrait appeared on the 20 ℛ︁ℳ︁ banknote issued by the Reichsbank from 1929 until 1939.[19] Printing ceased in 1939 but the note remained in circulation until the issue of the Deutsche Mark on 21 June 1948.
In 1923, German botanist
U.S. Patents
- U.S. patent 322,859 — Electric railway(21 July 1885)
- U.S. patent 340,462 — Electric railway(20 April 1886)
- U.S. patent 415,577 — Electric meter(19 November 1889)
- U.S. patent 428,290 — Electric meter (20 May 1890)
- U.S. patent 520,274 — Electric railway(22 May 1894)
- U.S. patent 601,068 — Method of and apparatus for extracting gold from its ores (22 March 1898)
See also
- Friedrich von Hefner-Alteneck—one of Siemens's aides
- Werner von Siemens Ring Award
- German inventors and discoverers
- History of electrical engineering
- Timeline of the electric motor
- Bow collector
- Dielectric barrier discharge
- Double-T armature
- Dynamo
- Electric bell
- Electric locomotive
- Electric generator
- Electromote
- Elevator
- Experimental three-phase railcar
- Microplasma
- Phase plug
- Siemens mercury unit
- Trolleybus
References
- ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
- ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0
- ^ "Werner von Siemens: A dynamic, visionary entrepreneur". siemens.com Global Website. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Werner von Siemens. "Inventor and entrepreneur : recollections of Werner von Siemens". London, England, 1966.
- ^ "HNF - Werner von Siemens (1816-1892)". www.hnf.de.
- ^ "L I F E L I N E S - Werner von Siemens" (PDF). siemens.com. Siemens Historical Institute, L I F E L I N E S – Volume 5. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ "Werner Siemens' battle for Friedrichsort Fortress in 1848". Burgerbe.de. 2 November 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ Schwartz & McGuinness Einstein for Beginners Icon Books 1992
- ^ "Courage and ingenuity – Siemens' success story begins with the pointer telegraph". Siemens Historical Institute. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ "The year is 1847". Siemens Historical Institute. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ "The History of Elevators From Top to Bottom". ThoughtCo.
- ^ Ed. M. D. Fagen, "A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: The Early Years", Bell Laboratories, 1975, p. 183.
- ^ "Werner von Siemens". siemens.com Global Website. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
- ^ Werner von Siemens (1893). Personal Recollections of Werner Von Siemens. Asher. p. 373
- ^ D. Appleton., (1887). Popular Science Monthly, Volume 30.
- ISSN 0161-7370. pp. 814–820
- ^ Werner von Siemens (1895). Scientific & technical papers of Werner von Siemens. J. Murray. p. 518
- ^ A similar account is given in Siemens, Werner von (1893). Personal Recollections, p. 373: "I also tried in my lecture to show that the study of the physical sciences in its further progress and general diffusion would not brutalize men and divert them from ideal aspirations, but on the contrary would lead them to humble admiration of the incomprehensible wisdom pervading the whole creation and must therefore ennoble and improve them."
- ^ "P-181". banknote.ws.
- ^ "Siemensia Urb. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
Further reading
- Shaping the Future. The Siemens Entrepreneurs 1847–2018. Ed. Siemens Historical Institute, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-86774-624-3.
- Werner von Siemens, Lebenserinnerungen, Berlin, 1892 (reprinted as Mein Leben, Zeulenroda, 1939).
- Werner von Siemens, Scientific & Technical Papers of Werner von Siemens. Vol. 1: Scientific Papers and Addresses, London, 1892; Vol. 2: Technical Papers, London, 1895.
- Sigfrid von Weiher, Werner von Siemens, A Life in the Service of Science, Technology and Industry, Göttingen, 1975.
- Wilfried Feldenkirchen, Werner von Siemens, Inventor and International Entrepreneur. Columbus, Ohio, 1994.
- Nathalie von Siemens, A Brimming Spirit. Werner von Siemens in Letters. A Modern Entrepreneurial History, Murmann Publishers, 2016, ISBN 978-3-86774-562-8.
- Lifelines: Werner von Siemens, Vol. 5, ed. Siemens Historical Institute, Berlin 2016
External links
- Biography, Siemens Corporate Archives
- Loudspeaker History (U. of San Diego)
- Short biography and bibliography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
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- Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. .
- Newspaper clippings about Werner von Siemens in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW