Carl von Ghega

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Carl von Ghega, lithograph by Joseph Kriehuber 1851
Honorary grave of Carl Ritter von Ghega in the Vienna Central Cemetery

Carl Ritter von Ghega (born January 10, 1802 as Karoli de Ghega in Venice , † March 14, 1860 in Vienna ) was an Austrian engineer and the builder of the Semmering Railway from Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag .

Life

Carlo Ghega was born in Venice to Albanian parents. Originally, like his father (Anton de Ghega), he was supposed to become a naval officer, but it soon became apparent that his mathematical talent was greater than his love for the sea. After attending the Imperial and Royal Military College, at the age of 15 he went to study at the University of Padua , where he received his degree as engineer and architect after just one year and a further year later, at the age of 17, a doctorate in mathematics.

He began his engineering career with road and water structures in Veneto . Among other things, he worked on the construction of the "Strada d'Alemagna", the road from Treviso to Cortina d'Ampezzo . In 1833 he published his first reference book. From 1836 to 1840 he was site manager for the Lundenburg to Brno section of the Kaiser-Ferdinand-Nordbahn . During this time (1836-1837) he also studied the railway system in England and other European countries. In 1842 Ghega became overall planning manager for the future southern state railway, which is why he went on a study trip to the USA in the same year to study the local railway lines in the mountains. The knowledge gained on this trip was not only incorporated into the planning and construction of the Semmering Railway, but also in two publications. Ghega published most of his writings parallel to the German also in identical Italian and French editions.

The Ghega memorial in Semmering train station

After his return to the state railways, he was given the task of planning the construction of the railway line going south, from Gloggnitz via Mürzzuschlag and Graz to Trieste . The railway crossing of the Semmering was viewed by many of his contemporaries as technically complex and even 'not possible'. But as early as 1844, he presented a plan for overcoming the Semmering , which envisaged operation with conventional steam locomotives with adhesion drive, dispensing with toothed racks or cable-level operation. Before the construction was even decided, Ghega began to push ahead with the construction of locomotives that can overcome such inclines.

Construction of the Semmering Railway was 1848. Even before the 1854 the engineer in 1851 in the knighthood raised. Carl Ritter von Ghega designed a railway network for the entire Habsburg monarchy in 1853/1854 and was commissioned to design railway lines in Transylvania in the years that followed, but he could no longer complete this project, as he was already in 1860 in Vienna, residential building on the corner of Rotenturmstrasse / Lugeck , died of tuberculosis . In 1858 the last railway in the Danube Monarchy was privatized, and the Ghegas office was also closed six months later. His life, largely unknown to the public, was the subject of five novels and numerous myths.

Ghega's original plan of the Franzdorf Viaduct

Appreciation

20 schillings - banknote (1967), Carl Ritter von Ghega and viaduct arches
  • Honorary citizenship of the city of Trieste (1857)
  • Exhumation and burial on September 7, 1887 in a crypt of honor in the Vienna Central Cemetery (Group 32 A, No. 24)
  • His likeness is printed on the front of the 20 Schilling banknote from 1966 . The Semmering Railway is indicated on the back .
  • Ghegadenkmal in Semmering train station
  • Name of Ghegastraße in the 3rd district of Vienna
  • Name of the Ghegastraße in Marchtrenk
  • Naming of Ghegastraße in Knittelfeld
  • Name of the Ghegagasse in the 4th district of Graz
  • Name of the Ghegagasse in Wiener Neustadt
  • Name of the Ghega Park and the Ghega Bridge in Gloggnitz
  • In 2012, the Austrian Post issued a special postage stamp for its 210th birthday
  • European Surveyor of the year 2018

Fonts

  • Dell'ottante a diottra. Stromento geodetico per tracciare in pianta l'andamento delle curve circolari . GB Merlo, Venice 1833. - Full text online .
  • The Baltimore-Ohio Railway over the Alleghany Mountains with special consideration of the gradient and curvature conditions . Kaulfuss Widow and Prandel, Vienna 1844, OBV .
  • About North American bridge construction and calculation of the load-bearing capacity of Howe's bridges . Kaulfuss Prandel, Vienna 1845. - Full text online .
  • Overview of the main advances in the railway system in the decade 1840-1850 and the results of test drives on a line of the state railway over the Semmering in Austria . Sollinger, Vienna 1853. - Text online , Atlas online .
  • Picturesque atlas of the railway over the Semmering . (Vol. 1: Text, Vol. 2: Atlas). Gerold, Vienna 1854/55.

literature

Web links

Commons : Carl Ritter von Ghega  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to his first gravestone in the Währinger general cemetery, which is preserved in the grave grove of the Währinger Park .
  2. ↑ Political News. (...) The City Council of Trieste has decided (...). In:  Innsbrucker Nachrichten , No. 170 (Volume IV), July 29, 1857, p. 1340 above. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ibn.
  3. ↑ Local Chronicle. 1887 September. In:  Wiener Communal-Kalender and Städtisches Jahrbuch , year 1889, (XVII. Year, new series), p. 313. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wkk.
  4. ↑ Hedwig Abraham (Red.): Carl Ritter von Ghega . In: viennatouristguide.at , accessed on August 3, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Ghega, Carl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ghega, Carl Ritter von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Builder of the Semmering Railway
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1860
Place of death Vienna