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Ernst Werner von Siemens

 
Ernst Werner Von Siemens

 
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Ernst Werner von Siemens (known as Werner von Siemens) (December 13, 1816 – December 6, 1892) was a German inventor
Inventor

An inventor is a person who creates or discovers a new method, form, device or other useful means. The word inventor comes form the latin verb invenire, invent-, to find....
 and industrialist. Siemens' name has been adopted as the SI
Si

Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
 unit of electrical conductance, the siemens
Siemens (unit)

The siemens is the SI SI derived unit of electric conductance. It is equal to inverse ohm. It is named after the Germany inventor and industrialist Ernst Werner von Siemens, and was previously called the #Mho....
.

er Siemens was born in Lenthe, today part of Gehrden
Gehrden

Gehrden is a town in the Hanover , in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 10 km southwest of Hanover....
, near Hanover
Hanover

Hanover or Hannover#Definitions , on the river Leine, is the capital city of the Federal states of Germany of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the House of Hanover, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-L?neburg ....
, Germany, the fourth child (of fourteen) of a tenant farmer
Farmer

A farmer is a person who raises living organisms for food or raw materials....
. He is a brother of Carl Heinrich von Siemens
Carl Heinrich von Siemens

Carl Heinrich von Siemens - March 21 1906 in Menton, France) was a German entrepreneur, a child of a tenant farmer. He is a brother of Ernst Werner von Siemens and William Siemens, sons of Christian Ferdinand Siemens and wife Eleonore Deichmann ....
 and William Siemens, sons of Christian Ferdinand Siemens (July 31, 1787-January 16, 1840) and wife Eleonore Deichmann (1792-July 8, 1839).






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Ernst Werner von Siemens (known as Werner von Siemens) (December 13, 1816 – December 6, 1892) was a German inventor
Inventor

An inventor is a person who creates or discovers a new method, form, device or other useful means. The word inventor comes form the latin verb invenire, invent-, to find....
 and industrialist. Siemens' name has been adopted as the SI
Si

Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
 unit of electrical conductance, the siemens
Siemens (unit)

The siemens is the SI SI derived unit of electric conductance. It is equal to inverse ohm. It is named after the Germany inventor and industrialist Ernst Werner von Siemens, and was previously called the #Mho....
.

Biography


Early years

Werner Siemens was born in Lenthe, today part of Gehrden
Gehrden

Gehrden is a town in the Hanover , in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 10 km southwest of Hanover....
, near Hanover
Hanover

Hanover or Hannover#Definitions , on the river Leine, is the capital city of the Federal states of Germany of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the House of Hanover, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-L?neburg ....
, Germany, the fourth child (of fourteen) of a tenant farmer
Farmer

A farmer is a person who raises living organisms for food or raw materials....
. He is a brother of Carl Heinrich von Siemens
Carl Heinrich von Siemens

Carl Heinrich von Siemens - March 21 1906 in Menton, France) was a German entrepreneur, a child of a tenant farmer. He is a brother of Ernst Werner von Siemens and William Siemens, sons of Christian Ferdinand Siemens and wife Eleonore Deichmann ....
 and William Siemens, sons of Christian Ferdinand Siemens (July 31, 1787-January 16, 1840) and wife Eleonore Deichmann (1792-July 8, 1839). They had two more brothers, Hans Siemens (1818-1867) and Friedrich August Siemens (December 8, 1828-May 24, 1904), married and father to Friedrich Carl Siemens (January 6, 1877-June 25, 1952 in Berlin), married on May 22, 1920 in Berlin to Melanie Bertha Gräfin Yorck von Wartenburg (February 1, 1899 in Klein Oels-May 15, 1950 in Berlin) (the parents of Heinrich Werner Andreas Siemens (born September 28, 1921, Annabel Siemens (born May 3, 1923), Daniela Siemens (born July 31, 1926) and Peter Siemens (born November 8, 1928).

Middle years

Siemens left school without finishing his education, but joined the army to undertake training in engineering
Engineering

Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying Technology and science knowledge and utilizing natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and process that safely realize a desired objective and meet specified criteria....
. His training helped exponentially. Siemens was thought of as a good soldier, as he received various medals for his services. Upon returning home from war, he put his mind to other uses. He is world known for his advances in various technologies, and chose to work on perfecting technologies that have already been established. Siemens invented a telegraph
Telegraphy

Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters. Radiotelegraphy or wireless telegraphy transmits messages using radio....
 that used a needle to point to the right letter, instead of using Morse code
Morse code

Morse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the alphanumeric, punctuation and special characters of a given message....
. Based on this invention, he founded the company Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske on October 1, 1847, with the company taking occupation of its workshop on October 12.

The company was internationalised soon after its founding. One brother of Werner represented him in England (Sir William Siemens
Carl Wilhelm Siemens

Carl Wilhelm Siemens was a Germany born engineer who for most of his life worked in United Kingdom and later became a British subject....
) and another in St.Petersburg, Russia (Carl von Siemens
Carl Heinrich von Siemens

Carl Heinrich von Siemens - March 21 1906 in Menton, France) was a German entrepreneur, a child of a tenant farmer. He is a brother of Ernst Werner von Siemens and William Siemens, sons of Christian Ferdinand Siemens and wife Eleonore Deichmann ....
), each earning separate recognition in their own right. Following his industrial career, he was ennobled in 1888, becoming Werner von Siemens. He retired from his company in 1890 and died in 1892.

The company, reorganized as Siemens & Halske AG, Siemens-Schuckertwerke and – since 1966 – Siemens AG
Siemens AG

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft is Europe's largest engineering Conglomerate . Siemens' international headquarters are located in Berlin and Munich, Germany....
 was later led by his brothers, his three sons Arnold
Arnold von Siemens

Arnold von Siemens was a Germany telecommunications industrialist, one of the successors on his family's company, the son of Ernst Werner von Siemens and his first wife Mathilde Duman....
, Wilhelm
Georg Wilhelm von Siemens

Georg Wilhelm von Siemens was a Germany telecommunications industrialist.Known as Wilhelm von Siemens, he was the son of Ernst Werner von Siemens by first wife Mathilde Duman and was a general partner of Siemens AG....
 and Carl Friedrich
Carl Friedrich von Siemens

Carl Friedrich von Siemens was a German Entrepreneur and politician. Carl Friedrich is the youngest son of Ernst Werner von Siemens by his second wife and relative Antonie Siemens and nephew of Carl Heinrich von Siemens and Carl Wilhelm Siemens....
 and his nephews Hermann
Hermann von Siemens

Hermann von Siemens was a Germany industrialist who became head of the German electrical and electronics company Siemens AG in 1941 and served until 1956....
, Ernst
Ernst von Siemens

Ernst Albrecht von Siemens , the son of Carl Friedrich von Siemens, was a Germany industrialist and one of the successors of his family's company....
 and Peter von Siemens
Peter von Siemens

Peter von Siemens was a Germany industrialist.He was the grandson of Ernst Werner von Siemens. He was chairman of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG from 1971 to 1981....
. Siemens AG is still one of the largest electrotechnological firms of the world.

Later years

Apart from the pointer telegraph Siemens made several contributions to the development of electrical engineering
Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of engineering that deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism....
 and is therefore known as the founding father of the discipline in Germany. He built the world's first electric elevator
Elevator

An elevator or lift is a vertical transport vehicle that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building. They are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables and counterweight systems, or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston....
 in 1880. His company produced the tubes with which Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen investigated x-rays. He claimed invention of the dynamo
Dynamo

Dynamo or Dinamo may refer to:...
 although others invented it earlier. On December 14, 1877 he received German patent No. 2355 for an electromechanical "dynamic" or moving-coil transducer, which was adapted by A. L. Thuras and E. C. Wente for the Bell System
Bell System

The Bell System refers to popular names used to described a group of companies that operated initial telephone services in the US. In 1877, the American Bell Telephone Company, named after Alexander Graham Bell, opened the first telephone exchange in New Haven, CT....
 in the late 1920s for use as a loudspeaker
Loudspeaker

A loudspeaker, speaker, or speaker system is an electroacoustical transducer that converts an electricity signal processing to sound....
. Wente's adaptation was issued US patent 1,707,545 in 1929. Siemens is also the father of the trolleybus
Trolleybus

A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from a network of charged overhead wires using spring loaded trolley poles. Two poles are needed, so that one can draw down the live current to power the motor and the other can complete the circuit by carrying the neutral current back to the network....
 which he initially tried and tested with his "Elektromote
Elektromote

Elektromote was the name of the world's first trolleybus, which was first presented to the public on April 29, 1882 by its inventor Dr. Ernst Werner von Siemens in Boroughs and localities of Berlin a suburb of Berlin, Germany....
" on April 29, 1882.

Personal life

He married twice, first in 1852 to Mathilde Duman (died July 1, 1867) and second in 1869 to his relative Antonie Siemens (1840 - 1900). Children from first marriage were Arnold von Siemens
Arnold von Siemens

Arnold von Siemens was a Germany telecommunications industrialist, one of the successors on his family's company, the son of Ernst Werner von Siemens and his first wife Mathilde Duman....
 and Georg Wilhelm von Siemens
Georg Wilhelm von Siemens

Georg Wilhelm von Siemens was a Germany telecommunications industrialist.Known as Wilhelm von Siemens, he was the son of Ernst Werner von Siemens by first wife Mathilde Duman and was a general partner of Siemens AG....
. Children from second marriage were Hertha von Siemens (1870 - January 5, 1939), married in 1899 to Carl Dietrich Harries and Carl Friedrich von Siemens
Carl Friedrich von Siemens

Carl Friedrich von Siemens was a German Entrepreneur and politician. Carl Friedrich is the youngest son of Ernst Werner von Siemens by his second wife and relative Antonie Siemens and nephew of Carl Heinrich von Siemens and Carl Wilhelm Siemens....
.

Patents


See also

  • Werner-von-Siemens-Ring
  • :de:Werner von Siemens more in-depth than English version
  • Friedrich von Hefner-Alteneck
    Friedrich von Hefner-Alteneck

    Friedrich Heinrich Philipp Franz von Hefner-Alteneck was a German electrical engineer and one of the closest aides of Werner von Siemens. He is largely remembered for the invention of the Hefner lamp, which provided the measure of luminous intensity used in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia from 1890 to 1942....
     One of Siemens's aides


External links

  • in the Virtual Laboratory
    Virtual Laboratory

    The online project Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930, located at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, is dedicated to research in the history of the experimentalization of life....
     of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
    Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

    The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin was established in March 1994. Its research is primarily devoted to a theoretically oriented history of science, principally of the natural sciences, but with methodological perspectives drawn from the cognitive sciences and from cultural history....


Further reading

  • 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.
  • Wilfried Feldenkirchen / Eberhard Posner, The Siemens Entrepreneurs, Continuity and Change, 1847–2005, Ten Portraits, Munich, 2005.