Ludwig Rudolf Alioth

Grave in the old cemetery of Arlesheim , Basel-Land

Ludwig Rudolf Alioth (born May 5, 1848 in Arlesheim ; † July 1, 1916 there ) was a pioneer in the Swiss electrical industry .

His father Daniel August Alioth owned the Schappe spinning mill JS Alioth & Cie. and was u. a. 1849 co-founder and board member of BL Hypothekenbank and 1863 of the Basler Versicherungsgesellschaft . Ludwig studied at the University of Lausanne and in the USA and was then technical director and partner in his parents' company as an engineer. When this was liquidated in 1881, he and Emil Bürgin founded an electrical manufacturing business in Basel , later in Münchenstein, for the production of engines, apparatus and locomotives. After Bürgin left the company after 1893, it became the Alioth Electricity Company (EGA) in 1895 .

In the years 1906–1908 he and Rieter built the Burglauenen power station with pressure lines for the Jungfrau Railway and the electrification of the Wengernalp Railway and the Bernese Oberland Railway . From 1909 he delivered cogwheel locomotives for the electrification of the Wengernalp and Schynige Platte Railway , which are still in operation today.

In 1911 his company merged with Brown, Boveri & Cie. together, who from then on equipped their locomotives in Münchenstein.

In 1903 the University of Lausanne awarded him an honorary doctorate . He was also a colonel in the engineering troops.

His daughter Elisabeth (1892–1963) married the son of the theologian Eberhard Vischer (1865–1943).

Web links

• Kaspar Birkhäuser : Alioth, Ludwig Rudolf. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Thomas Schibler: Alioth. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .