Emil Perels

Emil Perels (born July 9, 1837 in Berlin , † September 4, 1893 in Niederdorf (South Tyrol) ) was a German agricultural engineer . He taught agricultural mechanical engineering at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (BOKU) and has expanded the field of agricultural engineering into an agricultural science discipline.

Life path

Emil Perels, son of a master watchmaker, attended the Berlin trade institute from 1856 after graduating from the school . In 1859 he obtained his diploma as a mechanical engineer there . From then on, his professional interests focused on agriculture . He wanted to train agricultural designers and provide them with specialist literature. From 1862 he published brochures about tools for tillage , steam plows and threshing machines , which established his later reputation as an engineering scientist. Together with the businessman Carl Mitscher, he founded a "factory for steam threshing machines and locomobiles" in 1863, but for economic reasons he had to close the company again after two years.

In 1866, Perels completed his habilitation at the Berlin Trade Academy, a forerunner of the Technical University of Berlin. For two semesters, he held lectures on agricultural machine technology as a private lecturer . In 1867 he followed a call to the University of Halle . Here he was the first scientist for agricultural machinery at the Agricultural University Institute headed by Julius Kühn . Initially employed as a lecturer , he was appointed associate professor in 1871 . The unsatisfactory academic status in Halle, however, led him to accept an offer at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna in 1873 . Here he worked as a full professor for mechanical engineering and melioration engineering until his untimely death at the age of 57. He died of a stroke in his holiday resort Niederdorf (South Tyrol) .

Life's work

Perels was the first engineer in Germany who taught agricultural machinery at a university and raised the subject to an agricultural discipline. For him, the leitmotif as a university lecturer has always been the close connection between agriculture and technology . He suggested the establishment of test stations for agricultural machinery and demanded strict material and quality control. However, he made a name for himself as a competent agricultural technician above all as a book author. The two-volume " Handbuch des agricultural machinery " (1879/80), which grew out of several brochures, is today one of the classic works in agricultural technical literature.

In addition to his activities as a agricultural machine theorist and practitioner, Perels also increasingly turned to cultural technology in Austria . He sustainably promoted the training of melioration engineers. His " Handbook of Agricultural Hydraulic Engineering " (1877, 1884) is considered a profound representation of drainage and irrigation technology and has sustainably upgraded the field of cultural technology as a scientific discipline.

Perels enjoyed a high reputation at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. In 1877 he was elected dean of the agricultural section and rector of this university for the terms of office 1880/81 and for 1886/87 . He was also considered a recognized scientist in the international professional world. Among other things, he was a member of the Scientific Committee of the Imperial Russian Ministry of Imperial Domains. The Prussian king awarded him the fourth class crown order .

A BOKU building was named after him in his honor .

Most important specialist books

• Manual for installation and Konstruction landwirthschaftlicher machines and implements, for equipment manufacturers , designers, students of the art etc ... . Eight single issues, Verlag Costenoble Jena 1882-1866. - As a completely revised 2nd edition, ibid. Under the title Handbuch des Agricultural Machinery. For farmers and machine technicians, as well as for use in agricultural and technical schools . 2 volumes, Jena 1879 and 1880.
• Advice on the choice and use of agricultural equipment and machines. Outline of agricultural equipment and machines for the practical farmer . Verlag Parey Berlin 1867: 6th edition, ibid. 1889; further editions, some with a different title, edited by Wilhelm Strecker. 7th edition, ibid. 1897; 12th edition, ibid. 1922 = Thaer-Bibliothek vol. 21.
• The mowing machines . For use by practical farmers, machine manufacturers and engineers . Publishing house Costenoble Jena 1869.
• The steam floor culture . Lecture given in the Club der Landwirthe zu Berlin on January 4, 1870. Wiegandt & Hempel Berlin 1870.
• The use of steam power in agriculture. For farmers, machine manufacturers, engineers, as well as for use in agricultural and technical schools . Bookshop of the Halle orphanage in 1872.
• The drainage of swampy lands with special attention to drainage . Berlin 1874.
• Handbook of agricultural hydraulic engineering . Parey Berlin publishing house 1877; 2. rework. Edition ibid. 1884.
• Agricultural Transport Handbook . Publishing house Costenoble Jena 1882.

literature

• K. Rehrl:  Perel's Emil. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 7, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-7001-0187-2 , p. 415 f. (Direct links on p. 415 , p. 416 ).
• Heinrich Heyde Colloquium on the occasion of Erich Perels' 150th birthday on September 11, 1987 . Scientific contributions from the engineering college Berlin-Wartenberg Jg. 7, 1988, no. 1 u. 2.
• Hans-Heinrich Müller: An engineer who taught agricultural engineering. Emil Perels (1837-1893) . In: Berlinische Monatsschrift Vol. 6, H. 12, 1997, pp. 59–62 (with picture).

Web links

• Entry on Emil Perels in the Catalogus Professorum Halensis