History is often shaped by seemingly unlikely and largely unheralded sources and that is certainly the case for Darmstadt University. From the early 1880s this university, in the relatively poor state of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Germany, played a significant role in the development of electrification, invented the ‘Electrical Engineer’, shaped relationships between academic research and industry, and forged institutional links that have impacted on both sides of the Atlantic.


The university’s origins begin with the Höhere Gewerbschule (Higher Trade School), which was founded in 1836, followed by the Technische Schule (Technical School) in 1864 and the Großherzoglich Hessische Polytechnische Schule (Grand Ducal Hessian Polytechnic) in 1868. In 1877 Ludwig IV, Großherzog von Hessen und bei Rhein (Grand Duke of Hesse), named the Polytechnic School, Technische Hochschule zu Darmstadt, raising the status of the educational institution to that of a university. By 1882, however, in the wake of recession, student numbers had declined by 60 percent and TH Darmstadt was threatened with closure.

However, recognising the growth of industrial and technological development at the time in Europe in general and Germany in particular, the university took a leap of faith to appoint physicist Erasmus Kittler as Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1882. Consequently, in 1883, the very first School of Electrical Engineering was established and the ‘electrical engineer’ was ‘invented’. This initiative contributed to a rapid rise in overall student numbers and to the growing international reputation of TH Darmstadt as a first class institution for the training of engineers.

The establishment of the School of Electrical Engineering separated the subject from the traditional disciplines of physics and mechanical engineering and brought it within the range of academic disciplines at the still young technical universities in the German Empire. The course extended over four years of study that included a final examination, but what was innovative was the emphasis on practical work. In addition to laboratory courses, Kittler took his students on field trips to study power stations, transmission networks and even the newly established Sachsenhausen electrical railway.

Kittler was not only the academic chair but also, through his expertise, played a role in the electrification of Darmstadt. Electricity was the ‘high technology’ of the 1880s and 1890s. Kittler was instrumental in the development of a public power station, which was constructed by Siemens as a DC network and began operation in 1888. Through such activity Kittler developed the ‘Darmstadt Model’—a close cooperation between teaching and research and he consulted on planning public as well as private networks all over Germany and in many parts of Europe.

The School of Electrical Engineering attracted engineering students and associates that would make and shape the industrial world. In 1884 Carl Hering, a mechanical engineer from the US, commenced his studies in electrical engineering as Kittler’s first research associate. In 1902 he was co-founder of the American Electrochemical Society and in 1908 he developed the Heringscher Versuch (Hering’s Experiment).

His successor as a research associate between 1885 and 1887 was Michael von Dolivo-Dobrowolsky who was born in St. Petersburg, but moved to Germany to escape the Russian revolution. In 1888 he invented the first practical three-phase motor with AEG and is famous for establishing the notion of three-phase current. Also, in 1891 he constructed the world’s first long distance transmission of electrical energy, delivering 15,000 V over 175 km.

Kittler’s successor was Waldemar Petersen, who is said to have paved the way for high-voltage engineering and invented, among other things, the Petersen Coil. Karl Wirtz was appointed as the first Chair for Communications Engineering in Germany in 1894. His successor, Hans Busch, established the Institute of Telecommunications and his discovery of the electronic lens in 1926 laid the foundation for the invention of the electron microscope.

Such achievements and notoriety attracted an extraordinarily large number of foreign students to TH Darmstadt. In 1906, for instance, as many as 75 percent of the electrical engineering students were from abroad, mainly from eastern Europe states.

Educational reform after World War I impacted on the university, extending the curriculum beyond purely technical education in order to prepare the engineer for his leading role in society. However, in 1933 the university was brought in line with Germany’s national policy during the Nationalsozialistische Diktatur (National Socialist Dictatorship). As early as October 1933 the new constitution according to the ‘Führerprinzip’ (Leadership Principle) came into force; the Dean became the Führer of the university, appointed by the Führer of the state.

After World War II the university endeavoured to maintain its position at the forefront of development and embrace evolving technologies. Karl Küpfmüller, who developed the theory of Signals and Systems for Communications Engineering, was appointed in 1952. The university took the lead in Federal Republic of Germany establishing the first Chairs in the country in Control Engineering (1957), Electromechanical Design (1963), Power Electronics (1963) and Computer Science (1964).

The post-war period of reconstruction in Germany was largely based on a major development programme in the 1960s, through which universities and the state reacted to the continuously rising numbers of students. TH Darmstadt was affected by university reform in 1968, and in 1970 the ‘Hessisches Hochschulgesetz’ (Higher Education Laws of the Federal State of Hesse) came into force.

From then until the end of the century the university continued to see significant initiatives. In 1977 Thomas Weiland developed the Finite Integration Technique, which amongst other things allows the computation of electromagnetic fields in the human body. In 1988 Ottmar Kindl and Werner Langheinrich developed Cryogenic temperature CMOS Technology for cameras in the European Space Agency (ESA) Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). In 1996 the first Chair for Renewable Energy in Germany was established, and in 1999 Markus Anders, Egon Christian Andresen and Andreas Binder developed the Linear Power Train of the NASA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).

With the objective of sharpening public awareness of the university’s status at home and abroad, TH Darmstadt was renamed Technische Universität Darmstadt (Darmstadt University of Technology or TU Darmstadt) on October 1, 1997, and on January 1, 2005, it became the first public German university to be given administrative autonomy. New administrative structures were put into place, which means the university can autonomously administer its budget and buildings. It can also hire professors and negotiate their salaries (formerly this was done by the State of Hesse).

2008 sees TU Darmstadt celebrate 125 years since the world’s first School of Electrical Engineering was established and the world at large should celebrate the university’s contribution to academic and technological advancement.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge Dr. Martin Timm, Marketing Director of CST, for instigating this article and for his help with research and translation, and also Darmstadt University for its support.