Ernst Werner Siemens (later known as von Siemens starting in 1888; pronounced /ˈsiːmənz/ SEEM-ənz; German: [ˈziːməns, -mɛns]; December 13, 1816 – December 6, 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor, and business leader. The SI unit of electrical conductance, called the siemens, is named after him. He started the large company Siemens and invented the electric tram, trolley bus, electric locomotive, and electric elevator.

His dynamo helped begin the modern use of electricity, and he worked on creating the electric car.

Biography

Ernst Werner Siemens was born in Lenthe, now part of Gehrden near Hannover, in the Kingdom of Hanover within the German Confederation. He was the third child of fourteen born to Christian Ferdinand Siemens (July 31, 1787 – January 16, 1840) and Eleonore Deichmann (1792 – July 8, 1839). His father worked as a tenant farmer for the Siemens family, an old family from Goslar documented since 1384. Carl Heinrich von Siemens and Carl Wilhelm Siemens were his brothers.

After finishing school, Siemens planned to study at the Bauakademie Berlin. However, because his family was financially struggling and could not afford tuition, he joined the Prussian Military Academy’s School of Artillery and Engineering from 1835 to 1838 instead. There, he received training as an officer. Siemens was considered a skilled soldier, earned several medals, and helped develop electrically charged sea mines used to fight a Danish blockade of Kiel during the First Schleswig War.

After returning from the war, Siemens focused on improving existing technologies. He became known worldwide for his innovations. In 1843, he sold the rights to his first invention to Elkington of Birmingham. Siemens created a telegraph that used a needle to point to letters instead of Morse code. Based on this invention, he founded the company Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske on October 1, 1847, and opened a workshop on October 12.

The company expanded internationally soon after its founding. One brother, Sir William Siemens, represented him in England, and another, Carl von Siemens, represented him in St. Petersburg, Russia. Both earned recognition. After his industrial career, Siemens was given a noble title in 1888, becoming Werner von Siemens. He retired from his company in 1890 and died in 1892 in Berlin.

The company, later reorganized as Siemens & Halske, Siemens-Schuckertwerke, and since 1966 as Siemens, was led by his brother Carl, his sons Arnold, Wilhelm, and Carl Friedrich, his grandsons Hermann and Ernst, and his great-grandson Peter von Siemens. Siemens AG is one of the largest electrical engineering companies in the world. The von Siemens family still owns 6% of the company’s shares (as of 2013) and holds a seat on the supervisory board, being the largest shareholder.

In addition to the pointer telegraph, Siemens made significant contributions to electrical engineering, earning recognition as the founding father of the discipline in Germany. He built the world’s first electric passenger train in 1879 and the first electric elevator in 1880. His company produced the tubes used by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen to study X-rays. Siemens claimed to have invented the dynamo, though others developed similar devices around the same time. On December 14, 1877, he received German patent No. 2355 for an electromechanical "dynamic" or moving-coil transducer, which was later adapted by A. L. Thuras and E. C. Wente for the Bell System in the 1920s as a loudspeaker. Wente’s adaptation was granted U.S. patent 1,707,545 in 1929.

In May 1881, Siemens & Halske launched the world’s first electric tram service in the Berlin suburb of Groß-Lichterfelde. Siemens is also credited with creating the trolleybus, which he tested on April 29, 1882, using his "Elektromote."

He married twice: first in 1852 to Mathilde Drumann (died July 1, 1867), the daughter of historian Wilhelm Drumann; and second in 1869 to his relative Antonie Siemens (1840–1900). His children from the first marriage were Arnold von Siemens and Georg Wilhelm von Siemens. His children from the second marriage were Hertha von Siemens (1870–January 5, 1939), who married Carl Dietrich Harries in 1899, and Carl Friedrich von Siemens.

Siemens supported social democracy and believed industrial progress should not benefit capitalism alone. He also rejected the idea that science leads to materialism, stating instead that science and morality are connected.

Werner von Siemens’ portrait appeared on the 20 Reichsmark banknote issued by the Reichsbank from 1929 until 1939. Printing stopped in 1939, but the note remained in circulation until the introduction of the Deutsche Mark on June 21, 1948.

In 1923, German botanist Ignatz Urban published Siemensia, a monotypic genus of flowering plant from Cuba in the Rubiaceae family, named in honor of Werner von Siemens.

U.S. patents

• U.S. patent 322,859 — Electric railway (July 21, 1885)
• U.S. patent 340,462 — Electric railway (April 20, 1886)
• U.S. patent 415,577 — Electric meter (November 19, 1889)
• U.S. patent 428,290 — Electric meter (May 20, 1890)
• U.S. patent 520,274 — Electric railway (May 22, 1894)
• U.S. patent 601,068 — Method of and apparatus for extracting gold from its ores (March 22, 1898)