Ernst Baumann (electrical engineer)

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Ernst Baumann (born September 4, 1909 in Murgenthal ; † November 28, 1980 in Meilen , ZH) was a Swiss electrical engineer and university professor .

Life

Ernst Baumann studied electrical engineering at ETH Zurich from 1928 and was an assistant until 1934. He worked at Kabelwerke Brugg until 1940. In the same year, he was appointed full professor for low-voltage technology at ETH Zurich. In 1948 he took over the professorship for technical physics at the same university. Linked to this was the directorate of the department for industrial research (AfiF) . This department had the task of carrying out development projects in cooperation with industrial partners. The AfiF department played a key role in the development of the eidophor method for projection onto large screens, which his predecessor Fritz Fischer had invented. In this project, the collaboration with Swiss industry was impressively demonstrated. After years of research and early development of the eidophore system at AfiF, the finished development project was transferred to the company Dr. Edgar Gretener AG, later called Gretag , a subsidiary of Ciba-Geigy in Basel, ceded. This transfer required support from the AfiF for a long time. The AfiF also became a pioneer in electronic, quartz-controlled clocks under the leadership of Baumann. The development of the first Swiss quartz watch for the Neuchâtel observatory was one of these achievements. In the mid-1960s, several Swiss watch companies joined forces to develop an electronic quartz wristwatch with the help of AfiF . Apart from the battery, no suitable components were commercially available for this. As a result of the efforts, the Neosonic wristwatch was presented as a prototype in 1972 . However, the watch manufacturer consortium did not want to produce the new movement in series and disbanded.

His PhD students included Arvind Shah , Alessandro Birolini and Roger Lagadec . Baumann retired in 1979.

Publications

Memberships

Honors

Individual notes

  1. a b c Thomas Fuchs: Baumann, Ernst. Historical lexicon of Switzerland.
  2. Ernst Baumann: Eidophor - the first projector. New year's paper of the Natural Research Society in Zurich, 1961.
  3. ^ Robert Käppeli: Prof. Ernst Baumann, head of the AfiF, on his 60th birthday. In: Festschrift for the 60th birthday of Prof. Dr. hc E. Baumann. Hasler Works Foundation. Working Group for Electrical Communications Technology (AGEN), Zurich 1969, No. 10, p. 5
  4. Lucien F. Trueb: The quartz revolution - From mechanics to electronics and back . In: Franz Betschon et al. (Ed.): Engineers build Switzerland - the history of technology at first hand , pp. 367–369, Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-03823-791-4