Ludwig Plate (engineer)

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Jürgen Ludwig Plate (born September 5, 1883 in Bremen , † September 3, 1967 in Bremen) was a German hydraulic engineer and long-time head of the Bremen waterways directorate .

biography

Plate grew up as the third child of a school principal in Bremen- Walle , who also worked as an organist in the Waller church. The educator and politician Mathilde Plate (1878–1963) was his sister. Plate completed his father's elementary school and the old grammar school in Bremen, which he graduated from high school in 1903. From 1903 he studied mathematics at the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität Strasbourg and from 1904 to 1908 civil engineering with a focus on hydraulic engineering at the Technical University of Hanover . He graduated with distinction in 1908 as a graduate engineer. As an athlete and hiker, he was active in his spare time.

For a short time, in 1908, Plate was the site manager in the construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and then from 1908 to 1913 as an engineer and assistant to Immanuel Kölle in the construction of the Weser weir . In 1913 he married.

From 1913 the river regulation of the Outer Weser was his main task. During this time, he therefore lived in Bremerhaven for a time . In 1918 he was appointed state architect of Bremen. As a state building officer, he headed the office for the Weser Correction from 1921 . Since in 1921 responsibility for the waterways was transferred to the Reich , Plate took over the management of the electricity construction administration and became electricity construction director in 1923 . In addition, from 1921/22 he was busy planning the unrealized Hansa Canal from Hamburg via Bremen to the Ruhr area. The deepening of the Lower Weser to a depth of 8 meters was realized from 1924 to 1929.

Plate joined the German People's Party (DVP) in the 1920s . In 1933 he was appointed senior construction director for electricity and port construction. Numerous technical publications come from the outstanding hydraulic engineer. At the end of the Second World War he had to cause the flooding of the lowlands south of Bremen in February 1945 to repel the advancing British troops.

After the war, the American occupation forces used him again to restore the Weser fairway. From 1947 he was again head of the electricity construction administration. In 1948 the damaged Weser weir was rebuilt. In 1949, Plate retired.

Fonts

  • The Bramsche-Stade Canal . Geestemünde 1920.
  • The Hansakanal (industrial seaport canal). Berlin 1922.
  • The deepening of the Outer Weser by expanding the Fedderwarder arm. Hamburg 1926.
  • History of the waterways and ports of Bremen. 1948.
  • History of the navigation system and its design on the Weser. 1948.

Honors

  • The Ludwig-plate street in Bremen- Gröpelingen is named after him.
  • A plaque on his former home, Vasmerstrasse 24, commemorates Plate.
  • Medal for Art and Science of the Bremen Senate, 1953
  • Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1953
  • The Ludwig-Plate-Platz in Bremerhaven is named after him.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Plate, Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Plate, Jürgen Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German hydraulic engineer
DATE OF BIRTH September 5, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Bremen
DATE OF DEATH 3rd September 1967
Place of death Bremen