Werner Von Siemens Werner Von Siemens Was Born in in the Village of Lenthe Near Hannover, Germany
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LIFELINES Werner von Siemens Werner von Siemens was born in in the village of Lenthe near Hannover, Germany. December , marks the th anniversary of his birth. To commemorate this occasion, the Siemens Historical Institute commissioned a biographical portrait of this entrepreneur and inventor who started life as the son of a tenant farmer and rose to become one of the outstand- ing figures of the th century. The brochure is the fi fth volume in the LIFE- LINES series, which is dedicated to introducing the men and women who have done the most to shape the history and development of Siemens. This group includes businessmen who led the company, members of the Manag- ing Board, engineers, inventors and creative thinkers. A conscious effort has been made to include the lives and contributions of those individuals who are not always counted among the company’s most prominent fi gures. Werner von Siemens Werner von Siemens . – . LIFELINES 2 Introduction Few business personalities have remained as well-known over the years as Werner von Siemens, the “Father of Electrical Engineer- ing”. Yet even two centuries after his birth, much still remains to be discovered about the man’s biography. Even more, there is a genuine need to develop a picture of Werner von Siemens appro- priate for our times. For research of that nature, the correspond- ence between Werner von Siemens and his siblings – comprising some 6,500 letters preserved at the Siemens Historical Institute – offers a virtually inexhaustible resource. Werner von Siemens was born in 1816 on a farm estate in what is now Lower Saxony. He grew up in a period when incipient indus- trialization was changing the world as never before. While still a schoolboy, he discovered an interest in mathematics and technol- ogy. As university study was beyond his fi nancial reach, he served for many years in the military to acquire a background in technol- ogy and science. Then came the discovery of his life’s mission: the application of electricity. In October 1847, Werner von Siemens joined forces with precision mechanic Johann Georg Halske and his own cousin Johann Georg Siemens to found a telegraph con- struction company – the forerunner of today’s Siemens AG. Business and family were always inseparable for Werner von Siemens; several of his brothers were working for the company. The close relationship among three Siemens brothers – Werner, Werner von Siemens, ca. 1864 William and Carl, working respectively in Berlin, London and St. Petersburg – gave rise to a multinational family-run company that well understood what to do with the opportunities offered by the age’s fi rst wave of globalization. Werner von Siemens’ inven- tion of the dynamo machine in 1866 made him one of the pioneers of a new era in the history of electrical engineering. The dynamo made it possible to put electricity to work generating energy, light- ing streets and homes, and driving machines and vehicles. 5 Posterity came to associate the name “Werner von Siemens” primarily with inventions. Within just a few years after his death, he had already been idealized as a hero of German technology. Schools and streets were named not for the businessman, but for the inventor. That perspective began to dim in later decades – and with it, our image of Werner von Siemens. Over the past 70 years, Origins and education the only noteworthy biographies to appear have been produced Childhood in the country by directors of the Siemens Archive or SiemensForum.1 Yet researching Werner von Siemens is certainly still worth- Werner von Siemens was not a businessman straight out of the while today, especially when one looks at the man as a whole, free cradle. His father was a middle-class tenant farmer managing the from idealization. It becomes clear what a wide range of talents it Obergut farm estate in Lenthe, a village around ten kilometers took to be both a highly successful businessman, a gifted techni- west of Hanover. This is where Werner von Siemens was born on cian, and an important inventor. Above and beyond those qualities, December 13, 1816, the fourth child of the family. He was baptized Werner von Siemens also stood out as the father-fi gure who held Ernst Werner Siemens; the “von” indicating nobility was conferred a large family together. And he was notable as one of the fi rst indus- on him only late in life. His parents, Christian Ferdinand Siemens trialists to recognize the connection between scientifi c research and Eleonore, née Deichmann, were not wealthy, but educated. and economic development. Most of all, what made Werner von They raised their children lovingly and taught the bourgeois val- Siemens so special was his versatility. ues of their era. Both came from families with a long history in The present biography shows us a man of fi rm principles, who the middle class; for generations, his fathers’ ancestors had been always pursued his goals with the greatest persistence and stami- respected craftsmen, merchants and city councilors in the city of na, overcoming both calamities and dry spells in the process. He Goslar. was able to do all this because he focused not on short-term gain, Growing up among a large number of children left a lifelong but on creating something that would last. The ultimate currency impression on the young Werner. His two surviving elder siblings, that counted for him was “receiving recognition of the rightness Ludwig and Mathilde, were subsequently joined by three younger of my actions and the usefulness of my work”.2 brothers: Hans, Ferdinand and Wilhelm (who changed his name to William in 1844). Two other children died in infancy. Werner soon had to take responsibility for his younger brothers. The world in which the Siemens children grew up consisted at fi rst of family members, the farmstead, and the village. The Siemenses had an ex- tensive network of relatives, with whom they communicated large- ly by letter. There were no railroads yet; industrialization, which 2016 The house in Lenthe where Werner von Siemens was born is still stand- ing today, a protected historical monument. A permanent exhibition about the electrical pioneer’s life opened there to commemorate his th birthday. 6 7 had already begun in England, had not arrived in the Kingdom of Hanover. It was a bad time for tenant farmers like Christian Ferdinand Siemens. Agriculture was suffering from falling prices all over Europe. The elder Siemens was constantly in arrears on the rent. When the Obergut lease expired in 1823, the owner made no offer to renew. The eight-member Siemens family was compelled to move to Menzendorf, a village about 25 kilometers east of Lübeck, where the father took over the lease on a state-owned farm. There in Menzendorf, which at the time was in the Archduchy of Meck- lenburg-Strelitz, the family continued to lead a modest existence. The setting was an idyllic one for the growing Werner. But his fa- ther had little success managing this farm as well; the administra- tors repeatedly threatened to foreclose because he was behind in paying debts. Meanwhile, new children kept coming. Werner von Siemens now had four more brothers: Friedrich, Carl, Franz and Walter. The older boys were educated at fi rst by their grandmother. Then, at age eleven, Werner entered a secondary school in Schön- berg. For a year he traveled the nearly six kilometers to school on foot or riding a pony. Then his father decided to engage a private tutor, the theology student Christoph Sponholz. Sponholz made a deep impression on Werner by constantly encouraging his pu- pils’ ambition and achievement, and rewarding them with excit- ing stories.3 Despite the family’s strained fi nancial situation, the parents set a high priority on educating their sons well. So at age 15, Werner and his younger brother Hans were sent to a well-known human- ist Gymnasium – a secondary school – the Katharineum in Lübeck. It soon became evident that his interests and talents inclined to mathematics. He could rouse no enthusiasm for ancient lan- guages. In his second year, he added private tutoring in mathe- North Germany ca. 1850 Starting 1819 Persistent overproduction of agricultural products causes a farming crisis in Europe, with prices dropping sharply. 8 9 matics and drawing. But at Easter 1834 he left the school without a diploma. Training in the military When he left school, Werner von Siemens decided to take up studies at the Bauakademie (academy of architecture) in Berlin. But his parents were in no position to fi nance that expensive education. Then what should he do? His tutor from Lübeck coun- seled the young man to apply to the engineering corps of the Prussian Army, as an offi cer candidate. That career included three years of attendance at the artillery and engineering school in Berlin, where Werner would get an education in technology and science at the state’s expense. Taking that advice, the 17-year-old applied to join the Artillery, where he would have better chances than in the engineering corps, and in the fall of 1834 he was accept- ed as an offi cer candidate. First he had to serve for twelve months in Magdeburg. During that time, he became friends with a fellow member of the brigade, William Meyer, who was almost the same Werner von Siemens as a age. In the fall of the following year, the two friends were permit- second lieutenant, ca. 1842/43 ted to transfer to the artillery and engineering school. There they took courses in physics, chemistry and mathematics from scien- tists from the university and other institutions of higher educa- tion in Berlin.