Wilhelm Dietrich (electrical engineer)

Wilhelm Dietrich (* 1852 ; † 1930 ) was a German engineer and professor of electrical engineering . He was the first professor for electrical engineering at the TH Stuttgart and at the same time the first full professor for electrical engineering in Germany.

About the development of electrical engineering training in Stuttgart

In line with the increasing importance of engineering , the Polytechnic in Stuttgart was expanded into a technical university in 1876 , which was then renamed the University of Stuttgart in 1967. It owes the subject of electrical engineering , which has officially existed since 1882 , to Werner von Siemens (1816–1892), who had suggested setting up special chairs for electrical engineering at German universities.

The history of electrical engineering training in Stuttgart began with the first lectures in the summer semester of 1882, given by Wilhelm Dietrich , who in the following year 1883 was also appointed to the first chair for electrical engineering at what was then the "Polytechnikum Stuttgart", at that time still as a department within the Mechanical engineering .

In 1921 Fritz Emde (1873–1951) was his successor.

Act as a professor

Wilhelm Dietrich gave the first lectures on electrical engineering at the Polytechnic in Stuttgart in 1882 . He worked here as an assistant and associate professor of physics . Dietrich had studied mechanical engineering in Stuttgart. At that time, the Institutes of Technology in Germany but had not a PhD law, so he has at the University of Tuebingen also involved in Physics and in the field doctorate . This double qualification enabled him in particular to represent the “electrical engineering field” emerging from physics and mechanical engineering.

In 1883 a vacant professorship for humanistic subjects was converted into a professorial position for electrical engineering and in June 1883 Wilhelm Dietrich was appointed. "Since Kittler's older Darmstadt endowed chair was not properly set in the budget, this position in the Stuttgart tradition functions with a certain right as the first full professorship for electrical engineering in Germany." Meet the need for consulting services and skilled workers. Up until the First World War, this close connection between mechanical engineering and electrical engineering was maintained in Stuttgart, and the electrical engineering area was rejected.

The external study conditions at Dietrich's chair remained very poor for a long time, so that he was forced to use his close connections to the neighboring "Electrotechnical Factory Cannstadt" to have his students carry out experiments there. From April 1885 to March 1886 Dietrich had even given up his chair and joined this company, he only fulfilled his teaching duties by teaching assignments. Since no successor could be found, he returned to his chair and was finally able to get the state parliament to build a new building for his electrical engineering institute in 1891. Dietrich kept his close ties to the electrical industry and worked z. B. as an appraiser on the construction of a power station in Stuttgart.

In 1895 Dietrich was able to move into the newly constructed building with his Institute for Electrical Engineering, which he had expressly requested, together with the Institute for Chemistry. Only now did Dietrich have the space and equipment for an appropriate electrical engineering education, with half of the investment sum being spent on interior fittings including the laboratories. This move was also associated with an increase in staff, so that new areas such as electrical measurement technology and communications technology could be established.

In negotiations, Dietrich sought to equip his institute with three full professorships based on the model of the TH Munich . The appointment of Emil Veesenmeyer (1874–1950) for the fields of electrical engineering and construction exercises was an essential step in this direction. This came from Siemens & Halske , where he had built the first three-phase locomotive for mining operations. With the associate professor Hermann , the goal of a threefold division of the subject was almost achieved: Dietrich and Hermann represented theoretical electrical engineering, Veesenmeyer represented electrical engineering and Dietrich and Veesenmeyer represented plant engineering.

In 1912 Dietrich retired and Fritz Emde (1873–1951) was appointed as his successor . He had extensive industrial experience from activities at AEG , Siemens & Halske and the Siemens-Schuckert works in Berlin. Before his appointment to Stuttgart, he already held a professorship for electrical engineering at the Bergakademie Clausthal .

literature

• Wolfgang König : Technical Sciences. The emergence of electrical engineering from industry and science between 1880 and 1914. G + B Verlag Fakas, Chur (Switzerland) 1995, ISBN 3-7186-5791-0 .
• JG Proakis (Ed.): Wiley Encyclopedia of Telecommunications. Volumes 1-5, Wiley & Sons, 2003, ISBN 0-471-36972-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chair of Electrical Engineering , Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , April 29, 1882, p. 147 ff., Accessed on April 28, 2016
2. ↑ Eberhard Herter (Ed.): Electrical engineering in Württemberg. Vieweg, Wiesbaden & Teubner, Stuttgart and Leipzig 2012 (reprint of the 1st edition from 1998), ISBN 978-3-322-91842-0 , pp. 237-238.
3. ↑ Eberhard Herter (Ed.): Electrical engineering in Württemberg. Vieweg, Wiesbaden & Teubner, Stuttgart and Leipzig 2012 (reprint of the 1st edition from 1998), ISBN 978-3-322-91842-0 , p. 243.
4. ↑ Wolfgang König : Technical Sciences. The emergence of electrical engineering from industry and science between 1880 and 1914. G + B Verlag Fakas, Chur (Switzerland) 1995, ISBN 3-7186-5791-0 , p. 21.
5. ↑ Wolfgang König : Technical Sciences. The emergence of electrical engineering from industry and science between 1880 and 1914. G + B Verlag Fakas, Chur (Switzerland) 1995, ISBN 3-7186-5791-0 , p. 24.