Ernst werner von siemens biography definition

German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist (1816–1892)

For the composer, see Ernst von Siemens.

Ernst Werner Siemens (von Siemens from 1888; SEEM-ənz;German:[ˈziːməns,-mɛns]; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He founded the electrical and telecommunications conglomerate Siemens and invented the electric tram, trolley bus, electric locomotive and electric elevator.

Biography

Early years

Ernst Werner Siemens was born in Lenthe, today part of Gehrden, near Hannover, in the Kingdom of Hanover in the German Confederation, the fourth child (of fourteen) of Christian Ferdinand Siemens (31 July 1787 – 16 January 1840) and wife Eleonore Deichmann (1792 – 8 July 1839). His father was a tenant farmer of the Siemens family, an old family of Goslar, documented since 1384. Carl Heinrich von Siemens and Carl Wilhelm Siemens were his brothers.

Middle years

After finishing school, Siemens intended to study at the Bauakademie Berlin. However, since his family was highly indebted and thus could not afford to pay the tuition fees, he chose to join the Prussian Military Academy's School of Artillery and Engineering, between the years 1835–1838, instead, where he received his officers training. Siemens was thought of as a good soldier, receiving various medals, and contributing to the invention of electrically-charged sea mines, which were used to combat a Danish blockade of Kiel during the First Schleswig War.

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 Elkingto

(b. Lenthe, near Hannover, Germany, 13 December 1816; d. Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany, 6 December 1892)

electrical science, technology.

Siemens’ father, Christian Ferdinand, was a farmer and estate manager descended from a middle-class family long prominent in the affairs of Goslar. His mother, Eleonore Deichmann, bore fourteen children and, of the ten surviving, he was the oldest. In 1832 he entered a Gymnasium in Lübeck, where he gave early indication of an abiding interest in science. Although economic difficulties at home thwarted his plan to study at the Bauakademie in Berlin, Siemens won an appointment as an officer candidate at the Prussian artillery and engineering school in Berlin. From 1835 to 1838 he studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry under instructors who also lectured at the university.

Stationed as an officer at a provincial garrison Siemens used his free time to apply science to practical inventions. After the death of his mother and of his father months later in 1840, he was spurred on by the financial need of his brothers and sisters. His first successful invention was an improved process for gold— and silverplating. Rights to the process were sold in England in 1843 by his brother Wilhelm (later Sir William) to Elkington of Birmingham. Transferred to the staff of the Berlin artillery works, he soon joined the circle of Gustav Magnus, professor of physics at the University of Berlin. The group, which included du Bois-Reymond. Clausius, and Helmholtz, heard Siemens lecture on his indicator telegraph in 1845.

After improving upon the indicator telegraph of Charles Wheatstone, Siemens developed an entire telegraph system, including a method of providing the wire with a seamless insulation of gutta-percha. In 1847, together with Johann Georg Halske, the university’s scientific instrument maker, he founded the Telegraphenbauansalt von Siemens & Halske to manufacture and construct telegraph systems

Werner Siemens, the fourth of 14 children born to a tenant farmer and his wife, entered the world on December 13, 1816, in Lenthe, Prussia (now part of Germany). The large family was not financially equipped to send Siemens to study at a university, so after attending grammar school he joined the Prussian army at the age of 17. During his training as an artillery officer, he received a solid education in chemistry, physics and mathematics, which would underpin his strong interests in engineering and science. Siemens was briefly imprisoned for his involvement in a duel, but spent the time profitably by executing experiments in his cell that would result in his development of a new electroplating process in 1842. This would be the first in a long line of electrical advances made by Siemens, who was provided with ample time for research when he returned to the army and began working in an artillery workshop.

Fast, reliable communication was of special interest to the army, and Siemens concentrated his efforts on providing it. Having observed an early version of an electrical telegraph, the budding engineer realized the device would need to be vastly improved to meet the needs of the army. By 1847, Siemens built his own version of the telegraph that was significantly superior to any previously constructed. Instead of requiring the use of Morse code, Siemens's device, as the first pointer telegraph, was capable of transmitting messages letter by letter. The same year he pioneered the use of the latex-derivative gutta-percha to insulate electrical cables, built the army’s first underground telegraph line, and founded a firm with mechanic Johann Georg Halske to manufacture and repair telegraphs. After overseeing the establishment of several more telegraph lines for the army, Siemens resigned from the military to concentrate on his own entrepreneurial venture.

The company Siemens & Halske was initially based in Berlin, but it prospered and so

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