Werner Lindecker

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Werner Lindecker (born February 7, 1908 in Baden AG , legal domicile in Dörflingen (SH); † May 8, 1998 in Zurich ) was a Swiss electrical engineer , fighter pilot and manager .

Life

Werner Lindecker was the son of Carl Lindecker and his wife Anna, née Leuenberger. Werner Lindecker grew up in Baden AG, where his father worked in a management position at Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC). After primary school, he attended the district school in Baden for three years . This was followed by training at the cantonal high school in Zurich with a high school diploma in autumn 1927. He then began studying electrical engineering at the ETH Zurich , which he completed in 1932 as a graduate engineer. As part of the compulsory internship, he worked at the Papeteries de Serrières paper mill in Neuchâtel NE while studying to improve his French. He started his career in the field of measurement technology at Trüb, Täuber & Cie in Zurich. Thereupon he began his doctoral thesis in 1935 with Fritz Fischer , the inventor of the eidophor , at the Institute for Technical Physics (AfiF) at the ETH in Zurich. The doctorate to Dr. sc. techn. took place in 1938. He then entered the high-frequency laboratory of the BBC , which was headed by his fellow student Gustav Guanella .

During the Second World War , Lindecker did military service as commander of Fliegerstaffel 15, which in June 1940 was involved several times in aerial battles with German warplanes on the Swiss side of the Jura . Lindecker personally contributed to the downing of two German bombers that had breached the Swiss territory . For neutral Switzerland, these aerial battles were symbolic. In 1998, the later air force commander, Fernand Carrel, wrote in his message of congratulations on his 90th birthday to Lindecker of the signaling effect that Captain Lindecker's exemplary commitment and his generation of military pilots - equally understandable at home and abroad - had shown on Switzerland's will to defend.

In 1944 Lindecker became Technical Director of Paillard SA , Yverdon . At that time, Paillard SA was known far beyond Switzerland for its HERMES typewriters, mechanical calculators and BOLEX film cameras. Lindecker made a study trip to the USA in 1950 and wanted to develop electronics at Paillard in the future. He was accepted into a commission for the development of computer systems, which was convened by the Swiss School Council. With his suggestions for new product developments including electronics, Lindecker was unsuccessful on the board of Paillard SA. As a result, he returned to German-speaking Switzerland in 1955 and took a managerial position at Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO) near Zurich. In 1957 he became the successor to the technical director of the MFO and a member of the management together with Rudolf Huber and Franz Luterbacher. Under his aegis, the steam and gas turbine development and production was brought into a joint department with Escher Wyss AG . This was followed by the development and manufacture of the RAe TEE II four-current multiple unit for the SBB as well as the participation in Reaktor AG for the planning and construction of a Swiss experimental nuclear reactor.

Ten years later MFO was taken over by the BBC, whereas Lindecker fought early on. That is why he switched to the Elektrowatt holding and financing company in Zurich in 1964 , where he became a member of the management team. Elektrowatt played a crucial role in the Swiss electricity industry. Planning, financing and project management of many new power plants were part of it. Towards the end of his professional career, Lindecker was responsible for all contractual provisions for the construction of the Leibstadt nuclear power plant .

AW Roth, President of the Swiss Electrotechnical Association, honored Lindecker with the words: In Dr. Lindecker's long work changed a creative era in the machine factory Oerlikon with the support of diverse industrial interests in the context of the Elektrowatt. In both positions he made pioneering and lasting contributions.

Lindecker had been married to Tosca Cozzi, born in Zurich, of Italian descent since 1937, and had two sons and a daughter.

further activities

Werner Lindecker was a member of the board of directors of several Swiss companies:

  • Chairman of the Board of Directors (VRP) Reishauer AG, Wallisellen ZH
  • Chairman of the Board of Directors H. Weidmann , Rapperswil SG

As Director of Elektrowatt AG Board of Directors at:

Lindecker was also:

  • Board of the Cigré
  • Member of the Swiss Electrotechnical Committee (CES)
  • Honorary member of the Swiss Electrotechnical Association (SEV), today Electrosuisse

Honors

  • AW Roth Jr., President of the SEV: On the 75th birthday of Dr. Werner Lindecker. Bulletin SEV, February 5, 1983
  • Congratulations from the Swiss Air Force Chief Fernand Carrel on the occasion of Lindecker's 90th birthday.

Publications

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Neutrality protection in a sharp shot - 90th birthday of the aviator Lindecker . NZZ of July 2, 1998, p. 20
  2. ↑ Roman Schürmann: Dangerous victories in the air. The weekly newspaper, No. 3/2008, accessed on August 2, 2020.
  3. ↑ Jürg Dominik Lindecker: From the music box to the Federwerk film camera - the rise and fall of Paillard . In: Franz Betschon et al. (Ed.): Engineers build Switzerland - the history of technology at first hand , pp. 400–407, Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-03823-791-4
  4. ↑ Ambros Speiser : How Konrad Zuse's Z4 Computer came to Switzerland in 1950 . NZZ of May 16, 2003, p. 75
  5. ^ Rudolf Huber and Rudolf Kurth: Oerlikon, the place of power - the genesis of power generation and power distribution . In: Franz Betschon et al. (Ed.): Engineers build Switzerland - first-hand history of technology , pp. 30–50, Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-03823-791-4
  6. ↑ Loan MFO 1958 . NZZ of November 4, 1958, p. 51
  7. ↑ a b Ernst Meili: My life with Cerberus. Achieved and unreached. Buchdruckerei Stäfa AG, 1985. p. 117.
personal data
SURNAME Lindecker, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss electrical engineer, fighter pilot and manager
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Baden AG
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 1998
Place of death Zurich