Oskar von Miller
| Oskar Ritter von Miller | |
|---|---|
 Civil engineer Privy Building Councilor Dr.-Ing. e. h. et Dr. h. c. oec. publ. Oskar von Miller, 1912 | |
| Born | 12 May 1855 Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Confederation |
| Died | 9 April 1934 (aged 78) Munich, Bavaria, German Reich |
| Nationality | German |
| Known for | Deutsches Museum |
| Notable awards | Eagle Shield of the German Reich |
Oskar Franz Xaver Miller, since 1875 Ritter von Miller (7 May 1855 – 9 April 1934), was a German engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik (German: German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology) in Munich. He published numerous books that, for example, became standard works on the energy supply of cities.[1]
Contents
Life
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Oskar von Miller originally studied civil engineering. However, he became famous as an electrical engineer and hydropower pioneer. He was the first to manage to transmit electrical current over long distances. He built what was at the time the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world on Lake Walchen and pushed forward the development of electricity supply for all of Bavaria. He was well connected in politics and society and maintained relationships with scientists around the world. He enjoyed witty speeches, music and theater performances and partying. He also liked to organize glamorous parties to reward donors, employees and friends who helped him fulfill his lifelong dream of a natural science and technology museum.
After Abitur (Königliches Realgymnasium München) and successfully completing his studies from 15 October 1874 to 10 August 1878 at the Königlich Bayerische Technische Hochschule zu München (he did not serve in the Bavarian Army as a conscript, being declared unfit for service on 11 June 1875 due to health issues), he joined the Bavarian state construction service as Baupraktikant. Albeit, the official way of working did not offer the aspiring engineer the necessary leeway. However, in 1881 he was given the opportunity to visit the Paris Electricity Exhibition as part of an unpaid special leave in order to explore the possibilities of using hydroelectric power for Bavaria. Through self-study, he familiarized himself with the still young field of electrical engineering. In 1882, he organized the first electrical engineering exhibition in Germany in Munich. At this exhibition, together with Marcel Depréz, he was the first to succeed in transmitting electrical power over a distance of around 60 kilometers from Miesbach to Munich (direct current long-distance transmission Miesbach-Munich).
In 1883 (until 1889), he became director (together with Dr. h. c. mult. Emil Moritz Rathenau[2] and Prokurist Felix Deutsch) of the German Edison Company (Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität AG). In 1884, he built the first German power station in Munich. In 1887, the company's share capital increased from 5 to 12 million marks, the connection to the American parent company was severed and the company renamed “Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft” (AEG). “Siemens & Halske” and “Deutsche Bank” became shareholders in the new company.
Von Miller showed Thomas Alva Edison a 1000 horsepower generator during his visit to Berlin in 1889.[3] In 1890, he became the owner of the Ingenieurbüro Oskar von Miller GmbH engineering office in Munich. In 1891, he took over the management of the International Electrotechnical Exhibition in Frankfurt am Main. In 1892, the hydroelectric power station in Schöngeising, built according to Oskar von Miller's plans, began operation and supplied the nearby district town of Fürstenfeldbruck as one of the first cities in Bavaria with electricity for electric street lighting. The historic power plant with its three turbines and two generators is still in operation today and is a listed building.
In 1903, he became chairman of the German Museum Organization of the 1st Electrotechnical Exhibition and founder of the German Museum of Masterpieces of Natural Science and Technology in Munich. With Carl von Linde, the developer of refrigeration technology, and Walther von Dyck, the rector of the Technical University, he formed the first museum board. In 1911, von Miller employed Dr. phil. Colin Ross as a secretary. As early as 1914, after visiting the Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm, he suggested the preservation of technical cultural monuments in their original locations. In this respect, von Miller is a pioneer in the protection of technical monuments and industrial archaeology. Since around 1926, together with the VDI and the German Homeland Protection Association (Deutscher Bund Heimatschutz), he was able to achieve the first inventory of technical monuments in Germany. From 1918 to 1921, he was Bavarian State Commissioner for the execution of the Walchenseewerk and the Bayernwerk. He was a member of the German delegation (as technical advisor) at the 1919 peace negotiations in Versailles.
From 1918 to 1924, he was project manager for the construction of what was then the largest storage power plant in the world, the Walchensee power plant. He also pushed forward the development of a Bavarian-wide electricity supply network. The Bayernwerk emerged from this initiative. From 1922 to 1933, von Miller was a member of the Senate of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft). He was also a member of the board of directors of the German Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (until 1931) due to his services to the construction of the first electric mainline railway from Meckenbeuren to Tettnang (1895) and the promotion of the electrification of the Bavarian State Railways. On 7 May 1925, he became director of the German Museum in Munich.
In 1927, von Miller drew up the electricity supply plan for the whole of Germany, taking into account the development of electrical energy consumption, the geographical location of the raw energies of lignite, hard coal and hydropower with the help of a 220 kV interconnected network. On 31 May 1930, he handed over a “report on the Reich electricity supply” (Gutachten über die Reichselektrizitätsversorgung) to the Reich Ministry of Economics.
Death
Oskar von Miller died in the Deutsches Museum in 1934 as a result of a heart attack, eight months after his wife's death (car accident) on 18 August 1933. He was buried in the von Miller family grave in the Winthirkirche cemetery in the Neuhausen district of Munich, where his brother Ferdinand is also buried.
Family
Oskar was the 10th son of the royal ore founder and first inspector of the Royal Ore Foundry Ferdinand Ritter von Miller (1813–1887), co-founder of the Bavarian Decorative Arts Association, a member of the Bavarian State Parliament from 1869 and a member of the German Reichstag from 1874, and his wife Anna Theodolinde, née Pösl/Poesl (1815–1890). Oskar had 13 siblings, among them:[4]
- Friedrich "Fritz" Johann Baptist Ritter von Miller (1840–1921), professor at the school of arts and crafts in Munich (Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule München)
- Ferdinand Ritter von Miller, Freiherr von Miller (1842–1929), sculptor and ore caster, Rittmeister and Reichsrat, art academy director
- Alfons Moritz Ritter von Miller (b. 1847), lord of the manor (Herr auf Alt-Meersburg am Bodensee)
- Wilhelm Joseph Ritter von Miller (1848–1899), Dr. phil., professor of chemistry
- Ludwig Wilhelm Ritter von Miller (1850–1912), Ore founder
- Winfried Johann Baptist Ritter von Miller (1854–1925), artist (painter), 2nd Lieutenant of the Landwehr
Marriage
On 23 February 1884 in München, Ritter von Miller married his fiancée artist (painter) Marie Seitz (1861–1933), daughter of Dr. med. Franz Ritter von Seitz (1811–1892), Professor of Medicine at the University of Munich, and his wife Franziska, née von Faulhaber (1831–1917). The two had seven children, two of whom, however, died early. The remaining five were:
- Hermann Karl Ferdinand (1886–1975), Dipl.-Ing., Regierungs-Baurat 1st Lieutenant of the Reserves; ∞ 21 August 1916 Elisabeth Reinherz
- Marianne (1889–1954)
- Julie Philomene Helene (1891–1979); ∞ 16 September 1916 (o¦o 1929) Walther Georg Ludwig von Bomhard (1890–1972), 1st Lieutenant of the Reserves and opera singer[5]
- Walther Wilhelm Ferdinand (1894–1978), Dr. jur., 2nd Lieutenant of the Reserves, mayor; ∞ 23 May 1925 Irma Scholl[6]
- Rudolf Rupert (1899–1996), Dipl.-Ing., Dr. h. c., after his father's death in 1934, he and his brother Walther ran the company until the 1970s; ∞ Emmy Rossmann, 3 children
Awards, decorations and honours
- Ludwig Medal for Science, Art and Industry in Gold, 1882
- Order of the Crown of Italy, Knight's Cross, 1882
- Order of Saint Michael (Bavaria), 4th Class on 22 February 1899
- Diploma and two medals from the World Exhibition in Paris, 1900
- Max von Pettenkofer Medal, 1900
- Order of Vasa (Sweden), Knight's Cross 1st Class on 19 February 1901
- Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown, Knight's Cross on 30 December 1905
- Prussian Red Eagle Order, 3rd Class with the Crown, 1906
- Order of the Crown (Württemberg), Honour Cross on 5 November 1906
- Prussian Order of the Crown, 2nd Class on 12 December 1907[7]
- Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion (Orden vom Zähringer Löwen), Commander 2nd Class (BZL2b/BZ2b) on 29 July 1908
- Silver Rathenau Medal for Merit and Loyalty on 11 December 1908
- Order of Henry the Lion (Brunswick), Knight's Cross 1st Class on 17 March 1909
- Diploma from the World Exhibition in Brussels, 1910
- Albrechts-Orden of Saxony, Commander 1st Class with Star (SA2a) on 11 November 1913
- Prussian Red Eagle Order, 2nd Class wit Oak Leaves on 15 December 1913
- Medal of the Senckenberg Natural Research Society on 22 November 1917
- Medal on the occasion of the Golden Wedding Anniversary of King Ludwig III on 20 February 1918
- King Ludwig Cross in Silver on the anniversary ribbon (am Jubiläumsband), 1918[8]
- Luitpold Cross in Silver for 40 years of professional activity, c. 1918
- Wilhelm Exner Medal, 1921
- Medal for the 100th anniversary of the Frankfurt Physical Association in October 1924
- Golden Citizen Medal (Goldene Bürgermedaille) of the City of Munich on 17 February 1925
- Silver Honour Ring of the Bavarian State Government with the Bavarian Coat of Arms in Gold on 7 May 1925
- Golden Honour Ring of the Bavarian State Government on 7 May 1925[9]
- Grashof Commemorative Medal in Gold[10] from the Association of German Engineers (VDI) on 10 May 1925
- Karmarsch Commemorative Medal of the Hanover University Community on 20 June 1925
- Golden Simon Plössl Medal on 25 October 1926
- Werner von Siemens Ring, 1927
- Honorary Citizen Medal from the Vienna University of Technology on 17 November 1928
- Golden Honour Medal (Goldene Ehrenmünze) of the Austrian Engineers and Architects Association of Vienna on 16 December 1928
- Eagle Shield of the German Reich on 7 May 1930 (on the occasion of the upcoming 75th birthday)
Date unknown
- Prussian Order of the Crown, 4th Class
- Duisburg medal
Honours
- Honorary citizen of Fürstenfeldbruck on 6 February 1893
- Diploma from the Pettenkoffer Foundation on 18 February 1900
- Honorary Doctorate (Dr.-Ing. E. h., TH München) on 25 June 1903
- Imperial Councilor for the Crown of Bavaria (Reichsrat der Krone Bayern) on 19 November 1909 (awarded for life, de facto only until 1918 due to the abolition of the monarchy)
- Oskar von Miller Travel Foundation German Museum on 10 December 1912
- Geheimer Baurat (Privy Building Councilor) on 2 January 1914
- Title as "Excellency" on 14 August 1918
- Honorary citizen of Markt Holzkirchen on 16 November 1919 (another source states 16 December)
- Inauguration ceremony at the newly designed Oskar-von-Miller-Platz in Spring 2018
- Senator of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft) from 1922 to 1933
- Oskar von Miller Polytechnic (Oskar-von-Miller-Polytechnikums) for engineers founded, 1924
- Honorary Doctorate (Dr. h. c. oec. publ, University of Munich) on 27 April 1925
- Academic honorary citizen of the Vienna University of Technology on 17 November 1928
- Honorary citizen of the city of Munich and the city of Innsbruck, 1930
- Honorary President of the Berlin Building Exhibition, 1930
- Several streets, squares, institutions etc. in various German cities are named after Oskar von Miller:
- a section of Munich's Old Town Ring (Oskar-von-Miller-Ring)
- a street in Frankfurt's Ostend district
- a street in Einsiedlerhof, a district of Kaiserslautern
- the secondary school in Rothenburg ob der Tauber
- a street, a square and the vocational school in Schwandorf
- a street in the Göggingen district of Augsburg
- a street in Neusäß near Augsburg
- a street in Lauffen am Neckar
- a street in Friedberg (Bavaria)
- a street in Odelzhausen
- a street in Schweinfurt
- a street in Tettnang
- a street in Nuremberg
- a street in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate
- a street in Fürstenfeldbruck
- a street in Mammendorf
- a street in Aichach
- a street in the Lockwitz district of Dresden
- a street in Amberg
- a street in Meitingen
- a place in Holzkirchen/Landkreis Miesbach
- a street in Barbing near Regensburg
Memberships (excerpt)
- Honorary member of the Academic Mechanical Engineers Association Munich on 2 July 1902
- Honorary member of the Physical Association Frankfurt am Main on 24 October 1903
- Honorary member of the Gymnastics Association (Turnverein) Schwandorf in January 1905[11]
- Honorary member of the Electrotechnical Society Frankfurt am Main (Elektrotechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main) on 22 April 1906
- Honorary member of the Physical-Medical Association Erlangen (Physikalisch-Medizinische Sozietät Erlangen) on 27 June 1906
- Honorary member of the Men's Swimming Club Munich on 31 October 1909
- Chairman of the Association of German Engineers (VDI), 1912–1914
- Honorary member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in October 1912
- Lifelong member of the committee of the German Museumon on 20 November 1912
- Honorary member of the Association for the Promotion of Tourism in February 1913
- Honorary member of the Munich Nine-pin bowling Society (Kegel-Verein) in December 1913
- Member of the Board of Trustees of the Physical-Technical Reichsanstalt, 1917[12]
- Honorary member of the Association for the promotion of industry in Prussia (Verein zur Beförderung des Gewerbefleißes in Preußen) in Berlin on 23 January 1921
- Chairman of the supervisory board of the Transeuropa-Union, an association of airlines in Central Europe controlled and coordinated by Hugo Junkers, 1923–1925
- Honorary member of the Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker (VDE) on 28 August 1924
- Honorary member of the Scientific Society for Aviation (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Luftfahrt; WGL) in May 1925
- Honorary member of the Electrotechnical Associations (Elektrotechnische Vereine) Munich on 7 May 1925
- Honorary member of the Association of Electric Companies (Vereinigung der Elektrizitätswerke; VdEW) in Berlin on 16 June 1925
- Honorary member of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences on 25 November 1925
- Honorary member of the munich carnival society "Narhalla" in Dezember 1925
- Honorary member of the Munich Polytechnic Association (Polytechnischer Verein) on 29 March 1926
- Honorary member of the German-Transatlantic Association (Deutsch-Transatlantische Vereinigung) Berlin-Friedenau in December 1927
- Member of the Honorary Committee of the "Pressa", a five-month international press exhibition in Cologne in 1928
- Associate Member of the Berlin Academy of Civil Engineering in March 1929
- Honorary member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences on 27 April 1929
- Honorary member of the German Bunsen Society for Applied Physical Chemistry (Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft für angewandte physikalische Chemie) on 11 May 1929[13]
- Honorary President of the 2nd World Power Conference in Berlin, 1930
Date unknown
- Honorary member of the Munich Association of Architects and Engineers
- Honorary member of the Bavarian District Association of German Engineers
Posthumous
- His bust was placed in the Hall of Fame (Ruhmeshalle) in Munich.
- In 1946, the "Higher Technical School of the City of Munich" was renamed "Oskar-von-Miller-Polytechnikum" (a predecessor institution of the Munich University of Applied Sciences).
- In 1966, the “Alte Realgymnasium” in Munich-Schwabing was renamed Oskar-von-Miller-Gymnasium. Oskar von Miller graduated from high school here in 1874.
- In 1969, the “vocational school for electrical engineering” in Kassel was renamed the Oskar von Miller School.
- Since 1991, the Schwandorf Vocational School Center has been nicknamed the “Oskar von Miller School”.
- On 10 April 2003, a postage stamp of the Deutsche Post "100 Years German Museum" was released in his honour.
- In 2005, the Oskar von Miller Hall was inaugurated at the Munich University of Applied Sciences.
- 2007, the Oskar von Miller Technical High School in Meran (South Tyrol)
- In 2009, the “Oskar von Miller Chair for Science Communication” was founded at the Technical University of Munich. The current director of the German Museum, Wolfgang M. Heckl[6], became the first chair holder.
- 2010, Oskar von Miller Tower: Meteorological measuring tower of the Technical University of Munich in Garching near Munich
- In 2017, an asteroid was named after him: (59389) Oskarvonmiller
External links
References
- ↑ Miller, Oskar von
- ↑ Rathenau, Emil Moritz
- ↑ Chronik der Elektrotechnik
- ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Briefadeligen Häuser, 1913, pp. 558 f.
- ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Adeligen Häuser, 1942, p. 39
- ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Adeligen Häuser, Teil B, 1927, p. 624
- ↑ Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1908, p. 50
- ↑ Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1918, p. 249
- ↑ Auszeichnungen und Ehrungen Millers, p. 2
- ↑ OSKAR VON MILLER †
- ↑ Auszeichnungen und Ehrungen Millers, p. 1
- ↑ Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1917, p. 33
- ↑ Auszeichnungen und Ehrungen Millers, p. 3
- Articles containing German language text
- 1855 births
- 1934 deaths
- German nobility
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- Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Prussia)
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Eagle
- Recipients of the Order of the Zähringer Lion
- Recipients of the Albert Order
- Recipients of the Eagle Shield of the German Reich
