Eduard Gruner
Eduard Gruner (born June 2, 1905 in Basel ; † May 21, 1984 ibid) was a Swiss engineer and traffic planner. He was the first to design a base tunnel traffic connection through the Gotthard massif for rail and road.
Life
Eduard Gruner was born in Basel in 1905 as the son of Heinrich Eduard Gruner and his wife Jenny, b. Kern, born. After attending school in Basel, he studied civil engineering at the ETH Zurich from 1925 to 1929 and has worked as an engineer since then, mainly on foreign construction projects. From 1948 he was with his brother Georg Gruner (1908–2004) partners in the family's company, which was renamed Gebrüder Gruner after the death of their father .
Gruner was married to Elsa Gertrud Schwalm, daughter of the businessman Eugen August Schwalm.
Gruner's Gotthard plans and the Porta Alpina
As early as the 1930s, the Basel engineer Gruner had ideas for a transport connection through the Gotthard: a base tunnel for rail and road as well as a combination of the two.
In 1947, in a technical essay entitled Journey through the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2000 , Gruner explained the visionary idea of a 50-kilometer Gotthard Base Tunnel from Amsteg to Biasca .
In his project idea he also mentioned the Graubünden train station . He wrote at the time: “The train gently hits the brakes and stops in the teeming hall of the Sedrun tunnel station . From here, the sophisticated sports center can be reached in seven minutes in a comfortable lift through the 830 meter high shaft. As a result, the ski fields on the Vorderrhein are close to Basel, Zurich and Milan (...) ».
As part of the design of the Gotthard Base Tunnel , Gruner's idea of an underground train station near Sedrun was revived under the name Porta Alpina .
Reference construction projects
In his work as an engineer, Gruner worked on the following structures, among others:
- Planning management in Basel for the second elevation of the Aswan Dam, of which his father, Heinrich Eduard Gruner , belonged.
- Building of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel,
- Trans-Iranian Railway .
He also worked for the UN in the Human Rights department for some time .
literature
- Eduard Gruner: Journey through the Gotthard Base Tunnel . In: Prism. Illustrated monthly for nature, research, technology , No. 4, 2nd volume, August 1947, pp. 99-104, ZDB -ID 502055-4 .
Web links
- Gruner AG http://www.gruner.ch/
- Thomas Fuchs: Gruner, Eduard. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Helmut Stalder: A futuristic mind game from 1947 . In: Tages-Anzeiger , July 1, 2005.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gruner, Eduard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss engineer and traffic planner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 2, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Basel |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 21, 1984 |
| Place of death | Basel |