Alfred Mehmel

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Alfred Mehmel (born September 22, 1896 in Cologne , † November 15, 1972 in Darmstadt ) was a German civil engineer and university professor.

Life

Alfred Mehmel was born in Cologne in 1896 as the son of the accounting councilor Heinrich Mehmel. In the First World War he took an active part as a soldier. After returning from the war, he studied civil engineering at the TH Darmstadt from 1918 to 1921 . On December 22, 1921, he successfully completed his studies. He then worked for Rheinische Hoch- und Tiefbau AG. From 1923 to 1926 he was an assistant at the TH Karlsruhe . In February 1926 he received his doctorate in engineering . The title of the dissertation published in 1926 was: "Studies on the influence of frequently repeated compressive stresses on compressive elasticity and compressive strength of concrete". From 1926 to 1931 he worked in industry at Friedrich Mehmel AG in Hanover and the Ruhr coal district settlement association. From 1931 to 1933 he was a freelance engineer. From 1933 to 1934 he worked in the construction department of the German Aviation School.

In May 1934 , Alfred Mehmel completed his habilitation at the TH Karlsruhe. Since then he has also been a private lecturer at the TH Karlsruhe.

In August 1933, Mehmel joined the Reich Ministry of Aviation as a site manager . On April 1, 1934, he was appointed advisor for structural engineering at the Reich Ministry of Aviation. He was responsible for the development, calculation and construction supervision of all hangars to be built by the RLM. In autumn 1934 he was already responsible for around 60 construction sites. Mehmel quickly made a career in the RLM: on June 1, 1935, he was promoted to government building officer and on April 21, 1936 he was already senior government building officer. In the meantime, Mehmel had had his habilitation at the TH Berlin and was a private lecturer there. In April 1939 he was appointed to a professorship for reinforced concrete and solid construction at the TH Darmstadt. He was Emil Kammer's successor . From 1939 until he left in 1966 he was director of the Institute for Reinforced Concrete and Solid Construction at the TH Darmstadt. The research and teaching carried out in the Institute for Solid Construction was aimed at further developing construction methods and construction technology and making the work of the engineer more rational. He was particularly interested in bridge construction and shell construction, which he had helped to make a major breakthrough in the 1930s.

Mehmel was Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering from 1944 to 1945, 1947 to 1948 and 1958 to 1959. From 1949 to 1951 he was Rector of the TH Darmstadt. His focus was particularly on the reconstruction and expansion of the badly damaged technical university. As rector, Mehmel successfully campaigned for the reconstruction of the TH Darmstadt to take place on the site of the previous old town east of the castle. The necessary expropriation proceedings were initiated by the city of Darmstadt in consultation with the state of Hesse and the university management in May 1951.

Alfred Mehmel applied for membership in the NSDAP in 1931 . The application for membership was initially rejected. He joined the SA in the spring of 1933. After the Second World War , Mehmel was dismissed from civil service on July 1, 1946 by the American military authorities. It turned out that he - like some other professors - had given false information when filling out the official questionnaires. Mehmel was even indicted at times as the main culprit in the Arbitration Chamber proceedings in 1946. Through the influence of the university management in particular, it was possible that he was classified as “not affected” in a second procedure.

In 1947, Alfred Mehmel was again appointed full professor for solid construction at the TH Darmstadt. The appointment was initially revoked and in 1951 for life. On September 30, 1964, Mehmel retired . Until his successor was appointed, he was entrusted with the official business of the full professorship for solid construction until November 14, 1966. In 1950 he founded an engineering office that has operated under the name Krebs und Kiefer since 1973. Mehmel had been married to Gertrud Brinkmann since March 1930.

Honors

  • 1965: Silver plaque of merit from the city of Darmstadt
  • 1967: Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Buildings

Publications

  • Investigations into the influence of frequently repeated compressive stresses on compressive elasticity and compressive strength of concrete Springer, Berlin 1926, DNB 570896118 (Dissertation Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe 1926, 74 pages).
  • The Adolf Hitler Bridge over the Moselle near Koblenz. In: The civil engineer. 15th year, 1934, pp. 384–389.
  • Prestressed concrete. Basics of theory, calculation and construction. Berlin 1957; 3rd, revised and expanded edition, Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York, NY 1973, ISBN 3-540-05847-8 (Berlin) / ISBN 0-387-05847-8 (New York).
  • with Edgar Kern: Elastic and plastic compression of concrete as a result of pressure swell and static loads: Report (= German Committee for Reinforced Concrete , Booklet 153). Ernst, Berlin 1962 DNB 453284078 .

literature

credentials

  1. ^ Project: Technical University of Darmstadt and National Socialism
  2. ^ TU Darmstadt Late coming to terms with the Nazi past
personal data
SURNAME Mehmel, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German civil engineer and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH November 15, 1972
Place of death Darmstadt