Karl Eugen Slevogt

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Karl Eugen Slevogt

Karl Eugen Slevogt (born May 9, 1912 in Apolda / Thuringia ; † December 5, 1976 in Weilheim in Upper Bavaria ) was a German physicist and founder of the Wissenschaftlich-Technische Werkstätten GmbH.

Life

Karl Eugen Slevogt was the second child of Karl Joachim Slevogt and his wife Josefine. He had an older sister and a younger brother. Karl E. Slevogt's father was known as an automobile designer and successful racing driver, who in 1909 had set a world record for four-cylinder (130 km / h) with a vehicle with an engine he had developed. In Apolda he ran an automobile factory.

Karl E. Slevogt completed his school days in Hameln . In 1931 he passed his Abitur in the local high school. He then studied physics at the universities of Hanover , Graz and Würzburg . With a thesis on "Dispersion and absorption of electrical waves in alcohols and aqueous solutions", Karl E. Slevogt received his doctorate in natural sciences (Dr. rer. Nat.) At the University of Würzburg in February 1938 and then worked as an assistant at the Physics Institute of the Bergakademie Clausthal . There he completed his habilitation in January 1941 with a thesis "On the propagation of ultra-short waves along a dielectric conductor" and later worked as a lecturer.

In February 1941 he was drafted into military service with the Luftwaffe, where he was employed in the radio measurement service, at the Luftnachrichtenschule Halle and in development until the end of the war . He was one of the scientific pioneers in the German missile center in Peenemünde during the Second World War around Wernher von Braun . The contact with Wernher von Braun lasted for decades and Karl E. Slevogt last met him in 1972 in Switzerland .

On June 2, 1956, Karl E. Slevogt married Eva geb. Serious. From this marriage daughter Petra was born. On December 5, 1976, he died in Weilheim hospital at the age of 64 as a result of a stroke. On December 8, 1976, his funeral took place in Polling , to which he always felt particularly attached. There he should have been appointed honorary senator of the “Academia Cosmologica Nova” on September 11, 1976.

Act

On September 1, 1945, Karl E. Slevogt went into business for himself and founded the “Engineering Office for Electrophysics and Processing” in Wessobrunn . The first fields of activity were on farms in the area, where repair work of all kinds was carried out. Shortly thereafter, Slevogt started manufacturing radios. By mid-1946, the company, which was housed in the property of a master mechanic from Wessobrunn until 1949, had four employees. At this time, the "Thassilo" series of radio devices developed by Karl E. Slevogt was also created there. He had the chassis manufactured by the Zarges company , and wooden housings by carpenters. In 1947 the annual production of Thassilo radios was around 200 pieces.

In 1948 Karl E. Slevogt renamed his company WTW Scientific and Technical Workshops . At the same time, after the demand for his radios decreased, he was looking for new business ideas and products. The first measuring instrument that WTW developed in 1948 was an OK measuring device for determining the so-called dielectric constant (OK), or decameter for short. A first sample of this device has already been successfully marketed. The first buyers were the Hüls chemical works . The first step for further business success was thus taken. In the following year, 1949, a decameter was developed that was specially designed to measure the moisture of tobacco. Slevogt was able to successfully market this to a German and later also to a European tobacco product manufacturer.

In the following period, the WTW company developed a large number of other measuring and analysis instruments and devices. In 1954, Karl Eugen Slevogt was able to introduce the first WTW pH value measuring device onto the market. In the same year he moved the company's headquarters from Wessobrunn to Polling to its current location, which was included in the area of ​​the city of Weilheim in Upper Bavaria as part of the municipal reform . In the following years Slevogt started other companies. In 1958 he founded an institute for the development of chemical-physical analysis methods. A year later, in 1959, he founded the trading company “Dr. Slevogt & Co. ”, who was responsible for the import and export of scientific equipment, and the service company Elektromos, whose job was to service and assemble high-quality measuring and analysis equipment.

In 1965 WTW brought the first gel-filled, electrochemical oxygen sensor onto the market. For the first time, oxygen concentrations could be measured over several months with this sensor (with an electrolyte filling). The main “engine” of WTW's developments was again and again Karl E. Slevogt himself, who also took on other research and development tasks with his own working group. One of his basic ideas was to build high-performance devices for research and training that could also be used in routine operation.

Karl Slevogt recognized the topic of "environmental protection" at an early stage. It was through the development of appropriate measuring and analysis devices that certain testing options were created. With the continued success of the company, the space requirement at the company location also increased. The company, which is now active worldwide, was therefore expanded in 1963 with a research and development building, in 1971 with the so-called Valentiner Hall (assembly hall) and in 1976 with an administration and construction building.

Slevogt had earned a good reputation and notoriety just as the founder and head of the company, but also as a scientist. Fundamental work and publications, including on electrical measurements with high-frequency technology - especially in aqueous solutions - as well as the measurement technology of electrolytic conductivity, earned him worldwide recognition.

Honors

Slevogt's work in various scientific bodies also led to various appointments and honors.

  • He was Vice President of the Board of Trustees “Man and Space”.
  • Nicolaus Copernicus medal in silver
  • Member of the aerospace and marine research advisory board at the Deutsches Museum in Munich . - As an expert, he gave a television interview on the occasion of the first moon landing .
  • In memory of its company founder, WTW GmbH named its extension, which was completed in spring 1990, "Dr.-Karl-Slevogt-Haus".
  • The main access road to the WTW company built in the spring of 1993 was named "Dr.-Karl-Slevogt-Straße" by the city of Weilheim.

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personal data
SURNAME Slevogt, Karl Eugen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German scientist and founder of the scientific-technical workshops
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Apolda
DATE OF DEATH 5th December 1976
Place of death Weilheim in Upper Bavaria