List of German inventors and discoverers

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This is a list of German inventors and discoverers. The following list comprises people from Germany or German-speaking Europe, and also people of predominantly German heritage, in alphabetical order of the surname. As of 2021, Germany has 107 Nobel Prize laureates.[1]

Existing:  A B C D E F G H  I   J  K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Inclusion See also Further reading Links References

A

Georg Agricola
  • Ernst Abbe: Invented the first refractometer, and many other devices. Donated his shares in the company Carl Zeiss to form Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, still in existence today.
  • Franz Carl Achard: Developed a process to produce sugar from sugar beet. Built the first factory for the process in 1802.
  • Robert Adler: Invented a better television remote control
  • Konrad Adenauer: Invented soya sausage (1916; "Kölner Wurst")[2] and, together with Jean and Josef Oebel, [coarse] wholemeal bread (1917; Kölner Brot).[3]
  • Georg Bauer (Georgius Agricola): German philologist, doctor, scientific and technical scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist. Named "the father of mineralogy".
  • Wilhelm Albert: Invented the wire rope 1834
  • Kurt Alder: Discovery of the Diels–Alder reaction, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1950.
  • Richard Altmann: Discovery of the Mitochondrion
  • Alois Alzheimer: Psychiatrist who discovered Alzheimer´s disease, a degeneration of the brain in old age
  • Ottomar Anschütz: in 1883 he patented a camera with an internal roller blind shutter mechanism, just in front of the photographic plate. Thus the focal-plane shutter in modern recognizable form was born.
  • Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe: Invented the gyrocompass in 1907
  • Manfred von Ardenne: Self-taught researcher, applied physicist and inventor. Inventor of television among other things. 600 patents in fields including electron microscopy, medical technology, nuclear technology, plasma physics, and radio and television technology.
  • Leo Arons: Mercury-vapor lamp together with Peter Cooper Hewitt
  • Carl Auer von Welsbach: Gas mantle
  • Leopold Auerbach: Discovery of Plexus myentericus Auerbachi, or Auerbach's plexus
  • Max Abraham: Physicist. Worked as Max Planck's assistant for three years. Developed theories on electrons.

B

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (left) and Robert Bunsen (right)

C

Nicolaus Copernicus
  • Georg Cantor: Mathematician, discoverer of the set theory (1870s), which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics.
  • Ernst Boris Chain: biochemist, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin (together with Alexander Fleming).
  • Carl von Clausewitz: The father of modern military theory.
  • Justus Claproth: Jurist and inventor of recyclable paper and deinking.
  • Nicolaus Copernicus: Astronom, formulated a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center.
  • Manfred Curry: German American yachtsman, developed the cam cleat used on sailboats to easily and quickly secure a rope, discoverer of the pseudoscientific phenomenon of "geomagnetic lines" called the Curry Grid.

D

E

  • Paul Ehrlich: Scientist in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy, and Nobel laureate. Developed an effective treatment against syphilis.
  • Caroline Eichler: Inventor, first woman to receive a patent (for her leg prosthesis)
  • Albert Einstein: Father of Theoretical Physics, inventor and discoverer.
  • Ludwig Elsbett: Developed new concepts for Diesel engines which drastically enhanced efficiency.
  • Douglas Engelbart: German American inventor of the computer mouse.
  • Evaristo Conrado Engelberg: Inventor in 1885 of a machine used to remove the husks from rice and coffee, the Engelberg huller.
  • Friedrich Engels: He invented together with Karl Marx the economic and sociopolitical worldview Marxism.
  • Hugo Erdmann: Chemist who discovered, together with his doctoral advisor Jacob Volhard, the Volhard-Erdmann cyclization. In 1898 he was the first who coined the term noble gas (the original noun is Edelgas in German).[6]
  • Leonhard Euler: German Swiss mathematician and physicist. One of the most influential mathematicians of the 18th century.

F

G

Reinhard Genzel, astrophysicist
Walter Gropius
Johannes Gutenberg

H

Herman Hollerith
Wilhelm von Humboldt

I

  • Otmar Issing: Economist who invented the "pepet pillar" decision algorithm now used by the ECB.

J

K

Professor Dr. Robert Koch

L

  • Eugen Langen: Entrepreneur, engineer and inventor, involved in the development of the petrol engine and the Wuppertal monorail.
  • Max von Laue: Discoveries regarding the diffraction of X-rays in crystals.
  • Ernst Lecher: He is remembered for developing an apparatus— "Lecher lines"—to measure the wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic waves.
  • Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Philosopher known for discovering the mathematical field of calculus and coherently laying down its basic operations in 1684.
  • Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: German scientist credited with the development of the electrophorus.
  • Justus von Liebig: German chemist who made contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry.
  • Otto Lilienthal: Father of Aviation and first successful aviator. Main discovery was the properties and shape of the wing.
  • Carl von Linde: Engineer who, among other things, developed refrigeration and gas separation technologies.
  • Walter Linderer: Father of the airbag.
  • Alexander Lippisch: Pioneer of aerodynamics, his most famous design is the Messerschmitt Me 163.
  • Martin Luther: Seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is often credited with establishng the custom of the Christmas tree.

M

N

O

P

Max Planck

Q

  • Georg Hermann Quincke: German physicist who invented the Quincke's Interference Tube, an apparatus which demonstrates destructive interference of sound waves.

R

S

Heinrich Schliemann

T

Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus

U

  • Dietrich "Diedrich" Uhlhorn: Engineer, mechanic and inventor, who invented the first mechanical tachometer (1817), between 1817 and 1830 inventor of the Presse Monétaire (level coin press known as Uhlhorn Press) which bears his name.

V

W

Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin

Z

Criteria for inclusion

Please be sure that the inventor or discoverer is German or of German heritage / descent. For example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is often classified as Austrian, but lived in an Era, where Austria was part of the Holy Roman Empire, his nationality is therefore German. Mozart's nationality was, strictly speaking, that of the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg and therefore a German citizen of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.[16]

When adding an inventor or a discoverer to the main section, please check first to see if he or she is already in the list. If he or she is not, you might also check to see if an article exists (by entering the title in the Search box and pressing Go), as some editors may have forgotten to add their articles on German inventors to this list. When you add an inventor or a discoverer to this list, please add him or her in proper alphabetical order within the appropriate section. Please include the year of invention or discovery and list key information of the invention, as well as the references for it. After an inventor article has been created, the link on this page will be blue. Please move these titles into the main (existing article) section after creating the show article.

See also

The German Genius

Further reading

  • Peter Watson: The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution and the Twentieth Century, Simon & Schuster UK (2011), ISBN 978-1416526155

External links

References

  1. ↑ 104 as of 2018, adding Reinhard Genzel (2020), Klaus Hasselmann (2021) and Benjamin List (2021); not added are the many ethnical German laureates of Austria as well as German American, German Canadians, German French, German English and so on laureates.
  2. ↑ http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?locale=de_EP&CC=GB&NR=131402 Improvements in the Composition and Manufacture of Sausage Meat and the like; Patent
  3. ↑ http://depatisnet.dpma.de/DepatisNet/depatisnet?window=1&space=menu&content=treffer&action=pdf&docid=AT000000074310B&Cl=2&Bi=1&Ab=&De=2&Dr=&Pts=&Pa=&We=&Sr=&Eam=&Cor=&Aa=&so=desc&sf=vn&firstdoc=0&NrFaxPages=2&pdfpage=2 Patent; page 2
  4. ↑ John M. Barry, The Great Influenza; The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (New York: Penguin Books, 2005) 70.
  5. ↑ Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger (1770-1829), known as the "Flying Tailor of Ulm", started with flight experiments in Ulm, Germany, in the early 19th century. He gained experience in downhill gliding with a maneuverable airworthy semi-rigid hang-glider and then attempted to cross the Danube River at Ulm's Eagle's Bastion on the 31st of May 1811. The tricky local winds caused him to crash and he was rescued by fishermen, making him the first survivor of a water immersion accident of a heavier-than-air manned "flight machine". Though he failed in his attempt to be the first man to fly, Berblinger can be regarded as one of the significant aviation pioneers who applied the "heavier than air" principle and paved the way for the more effective glide-flights of Otto Lilienthal (1891) and the Wright Brothers (1902). Less known are Berblinger's significant contributions to the construction of artificial limbs for medical use, as well as the spring-application in aviation. His invention of a special mechanical joint was also used for the juncture of the wings of his "flying machine". Because of his worthwhile contributions to medicine and flight, in 1993 the German Academy of Aviation Medicine named an annual award for young scientists in the field of aerospace medicine in his honor.
  6. ↑ Renouf, Edward (1901-02-15). "Noble gases". Science 13 (320): 268–270. doi:10.1126/science.13.320.268. Bibcode: 1901Sci....13..268R.
  7. ↑ The beginnings of the electrification of Germany
  8. ↑ Goebel's patent 47.632 „Hemmer for Sewing Machines"
  9. ↑ Goebel's patent 252658 „Vacuum Pump"
  10. ↑ Goebel's patent 266358 „Electric Incandescent Lamp"
  11. ↑ Christian Friedrich Schönbein (18 October 1799 - 29 August 1868)
  12. ↑ History of coin pressing
  13. ↑ Historians believe they have found the first depiction of blue jeans in 17th-century Italian paintings.
  14. ↑ Genoa girds for battle over jeans
  15. ↑ Boyne, Walter J.; Museum, Space (1980). Messerschmitt Me 262 : arrow to the future. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 117. ISBN 978-0-87474-276-3. 
  16. ↑ His letters indicate very clearly he felt his nationality to be German (see e.g. his letter to his father of 17 August 1782; Mersman (1972:204)); this was natural in a time when the territory comprising modern Austria and Germany was a patchwork of mostly small nation-states of German heritage.
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