Ernst Albrecht von Siemens (9 April 1903 in
Kingston upon ThamesKingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
- 31 December 1990 in
StarnbergThe city of Starnberg is in Bavaria, Germany, some 30 km south-west of Munich. It lies at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg...
), the son of
Carl Friedrich von SiemensCarl Friedrich von Siemens was a German Entrepreneur and politician...
, was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
industrialist and one of the successors of his family's company.
Life
He studied
physicsPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at
Technical University of MunichThe Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan...
. He joined Siemens in 1929, beginning his career at the Werner Plant for Telecommunications in Berlin. After being a deputy member of the Managing Board of
Siemens & HalskeSiemens & Halske AG was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens AG.It was founded on 12 October 1847 as Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske by Ernst Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske...
for five years, he became a full member in 1948 and was appointed chairman in 1949. In 1945 he became a deputy member of the
Managing BoardIn German corporate governance, a Vorstand is the management board of a corporation. It is hierarchically subordinate to the Aufsichtsrat , as German corporate law imposes a two-tier board system....
of
Siemens-SchuckertSiemens-Schuckert was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966....
werke, and a full member in 1948. From 1956 to 1966, he served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of both companies, and from 1966 to 1971 as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of
Siemens AGSiemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
. After stepping down as chairman, he remained an honorary member of the Supervisory Board until 1978. Ernst von Siemens successfully faced the task of rebuilding the company after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was under his leadership that Siemens & Halske AG, Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG and Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG were merged in 1966, forming the company we know today as Siemens AG.
Ernst von Siemens was unmarried and had no children.
Sponsor of culture and science
He established:
- the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation (Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung), for the advancement of the sciences (1958).
- the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize
The international Ernst von Siemens Music Prize is an annual music prize given by the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste on behalf of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung , established in 1972. The foundation was established by Ernst von Siemens...
(1972).
- the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation (1983). The goal of this foundation is to give financial support for museums to buy artworks. It also promotes exhibitions. Besides financial means, Ernst von Siemens also left the Foundation his private art collection.
He was a member of the Academic Alpine Club of Munich.
Reference
- Wilfried Feldenkirchen/Eberhard Posner, The Siemens Entrepreneurs. Continuity and Change, 1847-2005 Ten Portraits, Munich 2005, p. 128-147.
External links