Paul Langer (engineer)

Paul Langer (born June 7, 1876 in Zagorje ob Savi , † October 11, 1953 in Aachen ) was a German mechanical engineer and designer .

Live and act

The son of a German-born family studied mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology from 1894 to 1899 . He then took on an assistant position at the Technical University of Berlin-Charlottenburg , where he probably also did his doctorate, before he worked as a research assistant at various companies, some of them American, in the field of heat engine construction from 1901 .

In 1906 and after completing his habilitation, Langer accepted a call at RWTH Aachen University , where he was given the chair for steam turbines and combustion engines with a focus on: thermal engineering ; Combustion technology; Turbo compressors ; Interaction between vehicle and road. In 1912, as the successor to Hugo Junkers, he also took over the management of the machine laboratory and the thermal power station, and thus the responsibility for the electricity and heat supply of the entire TH.

In the machine laboratory under his control, Langer began increasingly with experimental research on motor vehicles and vehicle engines. After this area of ​​responsibility grew steadily in the following years, he began building his own laboratory at the beginning of the 1920s, which was finally realized in 1923 as the "Institute for Vehicles and Internal Combustion Engines" of the TH Aachen and to this day as the Institute for Automotive Aachen plays an important international role. Langer's interests now focused on the relationship between vehicle and engine , acceleration , starting and braking ability, interactions between vehicle and road surface ( vibration behavior , road stress), drives and engines (including intake manifold injection ). In addition, he set up design courses that he personally led and joined the Research Association for Roads and Transportation .

Although Langer himself never joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party , after the seizure of power in 1933 he was increasingly involved in the ruling power structures due to his armament-related research area and his competent reputation. For example, in 1934, on the initiative of the Reich Ministry of Transport (RVM), he founded the "Research Council for Motor Vehicles", which was subordinate to the RVM and for which he carried out various research assignments in the following years with the aim of developing new engines and propulsion materials as well as improved ones Tires met. Other tasks of this body were to coordinate and promote research work in this area and to establish contacts between government institutions and industry. Despite his commitment, party-loyal voters prevented his election as rector of RWTH Aachen University in 1934.

In 1941 Paul Langer officially retired for reasons of age and health, but had to continue his service until 1943, as the war-related circumstances initially meant that no competent successor who was acceptable to the regime could be acquired and deployed. With his final retirement in 1943 and after completing more than 37 years of service for the TH Aachen, Paul Langer was made an honorary citizen of the RWTH Aachen in the same year .

Literature and Sources

• Kürschner's German Scholar's Calendar . 1926, col. 1079.
• Ulrich Kalkmann: The Technical University of Aachen in the Third Reich (1933–1945) . Verlag Mainz, Aachen 2003, ISBN 3-86130-181-4 , ( Aachener Studies on Technology and Society 4), (At the same time: Aachen, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2003), Google Books .

Web links

• ? (No longer available online.) In: Institute for Scientific Publications. Formerly in the original