Georg Count of Arco

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Georg Graf von Arco (1931)

Georg Wilhelm Alexander Hans Graf von Arco (born August 30, 1869 in Groß Gorschütz , Province of Silesia , Kingdom of Prussia , † May 5, 1940 in Berlin ) was a German physicist and electrical engineer.

As Technical Director, he was one of two managing directors in the Telefunken company founded in 1903, where he was responsible for the scientific and technical area until 1931. Georg von Arco played a leading role in the development of high-performance transmitter systems and, together with his teacher Adolf Slaby, was significantly involved in the research and development of high-frequency technology in Germany . The monist and pacifist von Arco was 1921/1922 chairman of the German Monist Association .

Beginnings

Count Georg von Arco was born as the son of Imperial Count Alexander Karl von Arco on the family-owned manor in Groß Gorschütz (Upper Silesia). Even as a child he was interested in all kinds of machines, but after graduating from high school at the Maria Magdalenen Gymnasium in Breslau (1889) he did not study engineering, but attended mathematical and physical lectures at the University of Berlin and then pursued a career as an officer. For his father it was natural that members of his family should become either farmers or officers. After three years in the military, however, von Arco changed his life to study mechanical engineering and electrical engineering at the Technical University of Charlottenburg from 1893 . It was there that he met Professor Adolf Slaby . Slaby was the only foreigner who was allowed to participate in Marconi's broadcast attempts on the English Bristol Channel .

Atlas plate on the campanile of the Heilandskirche at the Port of Sacrow
Memorial plaque on the house at Albrechtstrasse 48–50, in Berlin-Tempelhof

Based on these tests, Arco and Slaby the belfry served in summer 1897, the Savior Church at the Port of Sacrow as antenna to Marconi to verify experiments and understand. The first German antenna system for wireless telegraphy was built here. On August 27, the signal was transmitted to the imperial sailor station at Kongsnæs, 1.6 kilometers away, on the opposite bank of the Jungfernsee at Schwanenallee 7 in Potsdam .

A memorial plaque created by Hermann Hosaeus in 1928 above the entrance door of the Campanile indicates this attempt. In the center of the board, which is made of green dolomite , is Atlas with the globe, surrounded by lightning and the memorandum: At this site, Prof. Adolf Slaby and Count von Arco built the first German antenna system for wireless traffic in 1897.

On October 7, 1897, the first radio connection was established from Schöneberg to Rangsdorf and by the following summer it was possible to transmit to Jüterbog , about 60 kilometers away .

AEG

After finishing his studies went from Arco in 1898 as an engineer for the cable plant Oberspree of AEG . Initially, as a laboratory engineer, he was responsible for testing various types of cables, but through constant contact with Slaby was able to introduce and develop wireless telegraphy at AEG.

Telefunken

Patent disputes between Siemens & Halske and AEG led to the fact that the Gesellschaft für wireless Telegraphie mbH, System Telefunken , was founded as a joint venture at the behest of Kaiser Wilhelm II . The telegram address “Telefunken” quickly became a term for the new company.

Especially in the early days of transmitter technology, Arco was able to considerably increase the output and thus the range of the transmitters. To do this, he switched to the extinguishing spark transmitter developed by Max Wien , which was significantly more efficient than the pop-spark transmitters from Ferdinand Braun and was also able to transmit on a narrow frequency band.

Count Arco's successor as Telefunken managing director was Emil Mayer (1885–1953) in 1931 , who had to emigrate from Germany to the USA in mid-1933 because of his Jewish beliefs after the Nazis came to power .

Major radio station Nauen

Graf von Arco's greatest achievement was the expansion of the major radio station in Nauen , which had already been put into operation by Telefunken in 1906 , which helped the company to become a global company. In 1909 he had the Nauen radio station equipped with an extinguishing spark transmitter, which transformed it from a test station into a station with regular radio traffic. Now contact could be made with the German colonies in Africa and the ships of the Imperial Navy . Ten years later (1918) the transmission power had increased tenfold, which only worked with a completely new transmitter technology, the high-frequency machine transmitter with magnetic frequency converter introduced in 1912 . This made it possible for the first time to generate hardly dampened electromagnetic waves with high power. Von Arco played a key role in this development, and immediately after the advent of the electron tubes , he initiated experiments with them.

Philosophical and ideological activities

Relief on the tombstone

While Adolf Slaby took care of the university, von Arco pursued philosophical activities. He joined the monist movement and the Berlin Circle for Empirical Philosophy as well as the pacifist movement at the time of the First World War , for example as a founding member and chairman of the New Fatherland Federation . He belonged to the German Monist Association , of which he was chairman from 1921 to 1922. In 1923 he co-founded the Society of Friends of the New Russia , celebrating his 60th birthday in Moscow, which was very unusual for someone in his position.

Arco was a board member of the Abraham Lincoln Foundation , a German branch of the Rockefeller Foundation .

Resting place

Grave of Georg Graf von Arco
( grave site )

Arco was buried in a hereditary burial place in the Heilig Geist block, garden block V, in the south-west cemetery in Stahnsdorf . His grave was an honorary grave of the State of Berlin until it was deedicated in spring 2011 . The Senate put up a memorial plaque on Albrechtstrasse 49/50 in Berlin-Tempelhof . In Berlin-Charlottenburg , Arcostraße , the former Havelstraße , has been a reminder of the pioneer of radio technology since 1950 . There is also a street named after him in Nauen .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ H [singl] H [elwig]: Südwestkirchhof loses honorary grave . In: Märkische Allgemeine from 12./13. February 2011, p. 21 ( online )

Web links

Commons : Georg Graf von Arco  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Arco, Georg Graf von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Arco, Georg Wilhelm Alexander Hans Graf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist, co-founder of the Telefunken Society
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Great Gorschütz
DATE OF DEATH May 5, 1940
Place of death Berlin