Rudolf Franke

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Rudolf Franke (definition of terms ) .

Rudolf Franke (born June 24, 1870 in Hanover , † December 11, 1962 in Bückeburg ; full name Rudolf Heinrich August Philipp Franke ) was a German engineer.

Live and act

In 1894, Rudolf Franke was an assistant at the Electrotechnical Institute of the TH Hannover for a year . In 1896 he received his doctorate from the University of Rostock . In the following year he obtained his habilitation at the TH Braunschweig . From 1898 he held lectures as a private lecturer at the TH Hannover in the field of "Electrical Power Transmission and AC Machines". In 1906 he became a board member of Mix & Genest Telephon- und Telegrafen-Werke in Berlin-Schöneberg. From 1907 he was a private lecturer for instrument and apparatus construction at the TH Berlin .

By 1900 he had worked out a measuring method with a compensation apparatus that did not burden the normal elements with strong current draw.

In 1909 he presented a memorandum supported by the VDE “re. the establishment of a curriculum for low-voltage technology at the Kgl. TH zu Charlottenburg ”, in which he suggested using the term telecommunication technology instead of low-voltage technology in order to differentiate himself more strongly from high- voltage current.

The course catalog for the winter semester of 1911/1912 named one lecture "Telecommunications Technology" for the first time. Since the turn of the century, two disciplines have formed communications technology: telegraphy, which developed into telecommunications technology, and radio telegraphy, which developed into high-frequency technology.

On March 23, 1910, Franke became a lecturer in "Electrical Low-Voltage Systems" at the TH Berlin. Three months later he received the title of professor.

In 1911 he became CEO of Mix & Genest. At the TH Berlin he heard from Karl Strecker that there was little interest in low-voltage technology.

In 1912/13 the lectureships in Franconia for “Electric Weak Current Systems” and Strecker for “Electrotelegraphy” were merged to form the lectureship in “Electrical Telecommunications”. However, the Prussian state parliament did not approve the full professorship for low-voltage technology.

After the First World War, more than half of all electrical engineering students at TH Berlin were telecommunications technology students. The offspring of the Reichspost for the career of the higher telecommunications service created in 1922 consisted essentially of Franke students.

In 1921 Franke became an adjunct professor for telecommunications technology and precision mechanics and on November 9, 1922 a full professor for telecommunications technology, factory and device engineering. Franke wrote the article Schaltungslehre (today circuit technology ) for the concise dictionary of electrical telecommunications .

He retired on June 30, 1935 . His chair for telecommunications technology was divided into the fields of " high frequency technology " and "telecommunications technology".

From 1934 to 1938 Franke was chairman of the scientific department of the VDI .

In 1937 he moved to Bückeburg .

Fonts (selection)

• Apparatus and methods for determining the magnetic induction in types of iron , Rostock: Univ. Diss. 1896.
• A comparative shift and transmission theory: new ways of kinematics; Lecture given at the scientific conference to celebrate the hundredth birthday of Franz Reuleaux on November 11, 1929 at the Technical University of Berlin , Munich: Oldenbourg 1930
• From the structure of the gearbox: a new teaching for designers and students that uniformly summarizes the gearboxes in all technical areas
  • Vol. 1: The theory of gearbox development, Berlin: VDI 1943.
  • Vol. 2: The construction theory of the gearbox, Düsseldorf: Dt. Engineer publ. 1951.

literature

• G. Goebel: Rudolf Franke, the creator of telecommunications technology . Archive for the Post and Telecommunications System 2, No. 8, 1950, pp. 659–660.
• TH Hannover (ed.): Catalogus Professorum. The teaching staff of the Technical University of Hanover 1831-1856 , Hanover: Technical University of 1956, p. 203.

Web links

• P. Noll: Historical personalities in communications engineering at the TH / TU Berlin