Georg Franzius

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Georg Franzius

Georg Albrecht Nicolas Ludwig Friedrich Franzius (born June 5, 1842 in Aurich , † December 5, 1914 in Kiel ) was a German engineer and hydraulic engineer .

origin

His grandfather was the hydraulic engineering director and domain councilor Johann Nikolaus (Jan Niclas) Franzius (1761-1825) from Aurich. His parents were Carl Egbert Franzius (1798–1884) - chief bailiff in Wittmund, later in Fürchtenau - and his wife Charlotte Friederica Bütemeister , a daughter of the chief bailiff of Diepholz Hans Ernst Bütemeister .

Life

Georg Franzius grew up with seven siblings. In his career decision for hydraulic engineering, Georg Franzius was probably influenced by his older brother Ludwig Franzius , who later made a contribution to the expansion of Bremen into a world port. Georg Franzius studied hydraulic engineering at the Technical University of Hanover and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich from 1859 . After becoming a qualified engineer in Zurich in 1865 , he worked in Celle and Osnabrück as a Hanoverian hydraulic engineering manager.

Kiel

On April 1, 1871, he moved to Kiel as the Prussian government master builder , which in 1865 had become the seat of the naval station of the Baltic Sea and in 1871 the Imperial War Port. The Royal Shipyard on the east bank became the Imperial Shipyard in 1871 , from which the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft emerged . On October 5, 1871, Franzius married Therese Ottilie Streckfuß, a West Prussian woman .

When excavation work at Ellerbek unearthed finds from the oldest settlements in 1876 , Franzius ensured that they were secured and documented.

When the project of a Kiel Canal to replace the Schleswig-Holstein Canal was taken up again in 1881, the Franzius brothers were asked to clarify whether the canal should better flow into the Kiel Fjord or the Eckernförde Bay . Despite considerable additional costs, the Kiel solution was decided in 1887. The Kaiser Wilhelm Canal was opened on June 21, 1895.

Since December 1877 chief engineer and since 31 May 1878 department director of the Kaiserliche Werft, Franzius was appointed chief building officer in 1890 and in 1893 as a senior engineer . Marine Construction Councilor appointed. In 1910 he designed the steel structure of the shipyard's own transporter bridge (demolished in 1923), which became a landmark of the city of Kiel. At the Naval Academy and School (Kiel) , which was completed in 1888 , he taught hydraulic engineering.

Danube, Leer and China

When his brother was supposed to draw up an expert opinion on the regulation of the Lower Danube , Georg traveled with him to Romania and Serbia and through Bulgaria to Constantinople and back via Saloniki . In 1895 the city of Leer (East Frisia) asked him for an expert opinion on the expansion of their port facilities. Franzius was particularly helpful for the difficult and lengthy planning in Leer, which had a jealous competitor in Emden.

In 1897 Georg was sent to East Asia with his colleague and nephew Franz Franzius to choose a suitable naval base on China's coast . They traveled the coast to Tientsin and Hanku in the northeast of the country. The most important task for Franzius was the exploration of the Kiautschou Bay as a base of the German Empire in East Asia. His convincing reporting on all the important requirements of a naval base brought a clear vote in favor of Kiautschou . Franzius no longer had any part in building the colonial city of Tsingtau .

Welfare

Always popular with Kiel shipyard workers for his care, Franzius devoted himself more and more to welfare . The extremely strong growth in Kiel's population required careful housing construction close to the workplaces if healthy living was to be made possible and the social structure to be preserved. Franzius belonged to the welfare association of the Imperial Shipyard, which had been building a shipyard park in nearby Gaarden since 1881 . Today the park belongs to Ellerbek. In 1898/99 a spacious recreation house was built with a ballroom, library and reading room. Since 1892 Franzius was on the supervisory board of the Ellerbeker workers' building association founded in 1889, and since 1899 its chairman. In 1903/04 the idyllic fishing village of Alt-Ellerbek fell victim to the shipyard. The residents were resettled. At the instigation of Franzius, the shipyard acquired one of the most beautiful fishermen's houses with funds from the charity, had it demolished and rebuilt in the shipyard park not far from the recreation house.

retirement

On May 27, 1907, Franzius became the Real. Go . Admiralty Council appointed and retired. After 36 years on the east bank of the fjord, he moved to the villa district of Düsternbrook opposite . Franzius died four months after the beginning of the First World War at the age of 72 and was buried in the Kiel garrison cemetery .

Franzius was an employee of the Handbuch der Ingenieurwissenschaften and a member of the Prussian Academy of Civil Engineering . In 1907 he accepted an offer to research the divining rod . Undeterred by the strong criticism of his article My observations with the dowsing rod in the Zentralblatt des Bauwesens , he worked in the association to clarify the dowsing rod question .

Fonts

  • with Ludwig Franzius : Der Wasserbau (= handbook of engineering. Volume 3). Engelmann, Leipzig 1879.
  • Sea canals, estuaries and seaports (= progress in engineering. Group 2: Expertise of civil engineers. 2, ZDB -ID 2936448-6 ). Engelmann, Leipzig 1894, (reprint (= Historische Schiffahrt. 134). Salzwasser-Verlag, Bremen 2010, ISBN 978-3-86195-253-4 ).
  • Kiautschou. Germany's acquisition in East Asia. Schall & Grund, Berlin 1898, ( digitized version (3rd edition) ).
  • A few preliminary searches about the effects of electrical cables on the dowser. A protocol. In: Writings of the association to clarify the dowsing rod question. Issue 4, 1913, ZDB -ID 310061-3 , pp. 3-14.

Awards

Honors

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Franzius, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Franzius, Georg Albrecht Nicolas Ludwig Friedrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German hydraulic engineer
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH Aurich
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 1914
Place of death Kiel