Ernst Werner von Siemens

From Freepedia

Ernst Werner von Siemens (December 13, 1816 – December 6, 1892) was a German inventor and industrialist.

Werner Siemens was born in Lenthe, near Hanover, Germany; the fourth child (of fourteen) of a tenant farmer. He left school without finishing his education, but joined the army to undertake training in engineering. After starting a company (see below), one brother represented him in England (Sir William Siemens) and another in St.Petersburg, Russia (Carl von Siemens), each earning separate recognition in their own right. Following his industrial career, he was ennobled in 1888, becoming Werner von Siemens. He retired from his company in 1890 and died in 1892.

Siemens invented a telegraph that used a needle to point to the right letter, instead of using Morse code. Based on this invention, he founded the company Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske – later Siemens AG – on October 1, 1847, with the company taking occupation of its workshop on October 12.

On December 14, 1877 he received German patent No. 2355 for an electromechanical "dynamic" or moving-coil transducer, which was adapted by A. L. Thuras and E. C. Wente for the Bell System in the late 1920s for use as a loudspeaker. ^[1] Wente's adaptation was issued US patent 1,707,545 in 1929.

Siemens' name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens.

Family

Brothers:

• Carl Wilhelm Siemens, later known as Sir William Siemens (1823-1883)
• Carl Heinrich von Siemens (1829-1906)

Sons:

• Arnold von Siemens (1853-1918)
• Georg Wilhelm von Siemens (1855-1919)
• Carl Friedrich von Siemens (1872-1941)

Nephews:

• Hermann von Siemens (1885-1986)
• Ernst von Siemens (1903-1990)
• Peter von Siemens (1911-1986)

External links

• Corporate biography
• Werner von Siemens.com Telecom Pioneers by Phonebook of the World
• Loudspeaker History

References

1. ^  Ed. M. D. Fagen, "A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: The Early Years", Bell Laboratories, 1975, P. 183.