Karl Emil Hilgard

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Karl Emil Hilgard (born February 21, 1858 in Zurich ; † June 21, 1938 there ) was a hydraulic engineer in Switzerland and the USA who also dealt with steel bridge construction.

Life path

Karl Emil Hilgard was born as the son of the American consul Friedrich Hilgard, a democratic refugee from 1848 to the USA, and his wife Louise, nee. von Clais, born on February 21, 1858 in Zurich.

Hilgard attended grammar school and industrial school in his hometown and studied from 1875 to 1879 at the local civil engineering school of the Swiss Federal Polytechnic, the forerunner of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ( ETH Zurich ). He found his first job in 1879 with city engineer Arnold Bürkli , where he dealt with the water supply. After two years of professional experience, he returned - probably in 1881 - to the ETHZ as Carl Culmann's assistant ; after his death in December 1881 he became an assistant teacher and assistant to professors Ludwig von Tetmajer and Wilhelm Ritter .

In 1883 Hilgard moved to the USA, where he worked for the Northern Pacific Railway (NPR), mainly in steel bridge construction. After two years, in 1885, he was already head of the technical office of the North Pacific Railway Company in Saint Paul (Minnesota) , where he was responsible for the construction of bridges and tunnels. Hilgard designed over 100 smaller and larger steel bridges for the Northern Pacific. In the following years Hilgard worked for various engineering offices in railway construction.

During his time in the USA (1883–1897), he devoted himself to hydraulic engineering rather marginally, specifically in connection with port construction, hydropower plants and water supply. He has also written reports on the use of hydropower in various US states. He designed water supply systems for the engineering company Bouscaren in Cincinnati (Ohio).

Hilgard designed the steel frame for the first skyscraper in Cincinnati, the eleven-story Neave Building by architect Alfred O. Elzner, built in 1892.

In 1897 Hilgard returned to Zurich. Here he initially worked as an engineer for the railway commission of the Zurich Engineers and Architects' Association (ZIA) and was elected adjunct to the urban engineer of Zurich in the following year, i.e. in 1898 . There Hilgard presented a groundbreaking solution for the railway line running on the left bank of Lake Zurich in 1898 (“The conversion of the left bank of the Lake Zurich Railway”), which was also carried out later - with a tunnel under the laid Sihl .

In 1899 Hilgard was appointed professor at the ETH. There he succeeded Conradin Zschokke at the chair for hydraulic engineering and gave lectures on inland and seawater engineering, water supply and sewerage, foundations in the dry and in the water. As early as the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, he suggested the establishment of a research institute for hydraulic engineering, which was only inaugurated in 1939. One of Hilgard's students was Othmar Ammann , who gained importance as a bridge engineer.

Apparently Hilgard was not happy at ETH. For the experienced practitioner, the training program turned out to be unsatisfactory. In his obituary it is said that he resigned his professorship in 1906 due to friction. In the personnel files of the ETH Zurich there is a short note: Dismissal due to "sharp decency". Hilgard opened his own engineering office in Zurich in 1906.

His publications include those about general hydraulic engineering and shipping routes, for example about "History and Construction of the Panama Canal". Hilgard was one of the founding members of the Swiss Water Management Association (SWV), founded in Zurich in 1910, and the Swiss Confederation for Nature Conservation (today: Pro Natura ). Hilgard was a member of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) for 60 years.

Hilgard died on June 21, 1938, at the age of 80, in his native Zurich.

Karl Emil Hilgard is the initiator of the Karl Emil Hilgard Award / Hydraulic Prize of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) , which was founded in 1939, i.e. after his death .

source

  • Daniel Vischer, "125 years of hydraulic engineering at ETH Zurich: On the 80th birthday of Gerold Schnitter", article in the magazine: "Schweizer Ingenieur und Architekt", Volume 98, Year 1980, Issue 43, p. 1067, http: // dx.doi.org/10.5169/seals-74235

Literature by Karl Emil Hilgard

  • Hilgard, KE, “The reconstruction of the left bank of the Zürichseebahn”, publisher: Zürcher u. Furrer Dr, Zurich, 1898
  • Hilgard, KE, “Ueber Walzenwehre”, Publisher: Ed. Rascher's heirs, Zurich, 1904
  • Hilgard, KE, “About newer foundation methods with concrete piles”, Publisher: Rascher & Cie. / Meyer & Zellers, Zurich, 1907
  • Hilgard, KE, "The natural water balance in Lake Sils and the flow conditions of the Inn near Sils-Baseglia" [sic!], In: Schweizerische Wasserwirtschaft, No. 21/22, 1909
  • Hilgard, KE, “New types of construction of dams and dams”, publisher: Rascher & Cie., Zurich, Leipzig, 1910
  • Hilgard, KE, "The movable weirs", Leipzig, 1912
  • Theodor Rehbock (Ed.), Editors: P. Gerhardt, KE Hilgard, E. Mattern, Th. Rehbock, "Handbuch der Ingenieurwissenschaften", Part 3: "Der Wasserbau", Vol. 2., Publisher: W. Engelmann, Leipzig 4th, presumably edition, 1912-13
  • Hilgard, KE, "Wasserkraftanlagen", Berlin, 1914
  • Hilgard, KE, “About the history and construction of the Panama Canal”, publisher: O. Füssli, Zurich, 1915
  • Eugène Froté, Karl Emil Hilgard, Christian Tarnuzzer; "Hydropower of the Rhine in the Swiss Rhine area from the sources to Lake Constance: Results of the studies on the precipitation and runoff conditions as well as the hydropower of the Rhine and its tributaries", Publisher: Selbstv. of the association, Zurich, 1920
  • Hilgard, KE, “About inland waterway transport routes and some of their structures in the United States of North America, east of the Mississippi”, Publisher: Buchdruckerei Emil Birkhäuser & Cie, Basel, 1922
  • Hilgard, KE, “Study report on the sealing of water-permeable rock and masonry in railway tunnels”, Publisher: Julius Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1928
personal data
SURNAME Hilgard, Karl Emil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hilgard, Karl E.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss and American hydraulic engineer
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 1938
Place of death Zurich