Karl Wirtz (electrical engineer)

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Karl Wirtz (born August 19, 1861 in Darmstadt ; † September 3, 1928 there ) was a German electrical engineer .

Life

Karl Wirtz was born in 1861 as the son of the Darmstadt lithographer Ferdinand Wirtz. He attended the Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium and studied physics at the Technical University of Darmstadt from 1878 . Further stations in the course were Leipzig (1880–1881, 1884–1886) and Munich (1883–1884). After graduating, he became a teacher at his former grammar school.

As early as 1887 he switched to the physical institute of the Grand Ducal Technical University in Darmstadt as an assistant. On July 12, 1890 , he received his doctorate as Dr. phil. at the University of Giessen , as his home university did not yet have the right to award doctorates. After completing his doctorate, he switched to the electrical engineering institute at the TH Darmstadt as an assistant , which developed rapidly with the appointment of Erasmus Kittler in 1882. Wirtz was responsible in particular for the lectures General Electrical Engineering I and Metrology . In 1894 Karl Wirtz received the second chair for electrical engineering with the subjects of general electrical engineering I , metrology , telegraphy and telephony . With his lectures on telegraphy and telephony, he founded the Darmstadt communications technology . In 1895 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

In 1907 Wirtz had a laboratory for wireless telegraphy and telephony set up in the clock tower building, which was built in 1904 by Friedrich Pützer . The station on the 37 m high tower had a range of approx. 500 km. A second station was placed in the Messel pit 9 km away . With these two stations, radio messages from Cape Poldhu (Cornwall, England) and Norddeich could be received without any problems.

Due to the small number of professors in electrical engineering, Wirtz was dean of this department several times: 1895–1896, 1899–1902, 1905–1908, 1911–1914, 1917–1920, 1921–1923.

Karl Wirtz died surprisingly at the age of 67 on September 3, 1928 in Darmstadt.

Honors

  • 1907: Appointed Privy Councilor

literature

  • Andreas Göller: Practice-Theory-Innovation. On the history of electrical engineering at the TH Darmstadt 1882–1945 . In: Archive for Hessian History, 65, 2007, pp. 165–198.
  • The Grand Ducal Technical University of Darmstadt 1896–1908. Festschrift to celebrate the opening of the extension on July 23, 1908 . Darmstadt 1908.
  • One hundred years of Darmstadt University of Technology. The Technical University of Darmstadt 1836–1936 . Darmstadt 1936.
  • Franklin Punga: Obituary K. Wirtz . In: Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift, 40, 1928, p. 1526.
  • Christa Wolf, Marianne Viefhaus: Directory of professors at TH Darmstadt . Darmstadt 1977, p. 231.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Member entry by Karl Wirtz at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on December 28, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Wirtz, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German electrical engineer
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1928
Place of death Darmstadt