Johann Wenzel (engineer)

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Johann Wenzel

Johann Wenzel (born January 17, 1918 in Darmstadt , † April 7, 2009 in Mollis ; pseudonym: Jobst ) was a German engineer , technology historian and watch researcher.

Life

Johann Wenzel grew up in Darmstadt, where he was born, where he also graduated as an engineer; He was a scientific assistant in a research institute at the Technical University and then until 1944 assistant to the technical director in the State Theater . Shortly before the end of the war he was drafted as a medic and soon became a prisoner of war in France , from which he managed to escape in 1946. He then emigrated to Brazil through several countries . Brazil was his home for 25 years, interrupted by many, sometimes very long trips around the world. Until 1956 he mainly worked as a surveyor , in order to become self-employed as an entrepreneur for large pipeline systems in the same year. In 1974, after the factory had been sold and the household liquidated, he moved to Switzerland in the Glarnerland to a simple apartment, where he lived until his death. Jobst Wenzel was a member of the Swiss organization EXIT , which campaigns for euthanasia. He died at the age of 91.

Services

Johann Wenzel was an engineer in the best old sense. He knew how to solve difficult tasks with creativity and with the help of the simplest means. After returning from Brazil, he became a member of the German Chronometry Society . From 1978 to 1991 he was elected as an advisory board member of the company's expanded executive committee. In the 1980s he analyzed Jost Bürgi's astronomical table clock together with Ludolf von Mackensen , then director of the Astronomical-Physical Cabinet in the Orangery in Kassel . He worked actively with Günther Glaser from Stuttgart on the manual for chronometry and clock technology . In the German Clock Museum he analyzed Father Thaddäus Rinderle's astronomical clock . Many other specialist articles and publications are known from this period.

Fonts (selection)

  • Repetition on request with the lock disc striking mechanism. In: Writings of the "Friends of Old Watches". Volume 16, DGC (ed.), Verlag W. Kempter, Ulm 1977, ISBN 3-921348-21-8 , pp. 71f.
  • From the workshop for the workshop: How were the gears divided in earlier centuries? In the writings of the “Friends of Old Watches”. Volume 20, DGC (ed.), Verlag W. Kempter, Ulm 1981, ISBN 3-921348-27-7 , p. 157f.
  • Considerations about night light and night lamp clocks. In: Writings of the "Friends of Old Watches". Volume 20, DGC (Ed.), Verlag W. Kempter, Ulm 1981, ISBN 3-921348-27-7 , pp. 89f.
  • The gear in the lid of a table clock by Jost Bürgi. In: Old clocks. Issue 1 and 2, Callwey Verlag, Munich 1983.
  • Music out of the back pocket. In: Writings of the historical-scientific expert group "Friends of old watches". Volume 28, DGC (Ed.) Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-923422-06-7 , p. 121f.
  • "New Astronomical Artificial Clock" by Michael Zingg from Glarus (1599–1676). In: Old clocks and modern timekeeping. Ebner, No. 3, 1991, pp. 34f.
  • The astrolabe on clocks. In: Classic watches. Ebner, Volume 19 (1996), No. 6, pp. 36f.
  • Equation clocks. In: Jahresschrift 2002. Volume 41, DGC (Hrsg.) Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-923422-20-2 , p. 81f.
  • The sun sextant. In: Jahreschrift 2004. Volume 43, DGC (Hrsg.) Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg in Allgäu 2004, ISBN 3-89870-204-9 , p. 232f.
  • My favorite watch "Das WRACK". In: Jahreschrift 2004. Volume 43, DGC (Hrsg.) Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg in Allgäu 2004, ISBN 3-89870-204-9 , p. 65f.
  • Father Thaddäus Rinderle's astronomical-geographical clock . German Clock Museum, Furtwangen 2007, ISBN 978-3-922673-20-0 .

literature

  • Johann Wenzel: Memories from a life that is not quite everyday. Mollis 1999.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Finck: Memory of my friend Johann Wenzel called Jobst. Obituary in notification of the DGC. No. 118 summer 2009, p. 4.
  2. ^ Josef M. Stadl: On the death of Jobst Wenzel. Obituary in notification of the DGC. No. 118 summer 2009, p. 5.
personal data
SURNAME Wenzel, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jobst (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer, technical historian and watch researcher
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 2009
Place of death Mollis