On July 25, Ferdinand Redtenbacher would have become 200 years old. Redtenbacher is not only the founder of scientific mechanical engineering. As a long-time professor (1841–1863) and director of the former Polytechnical School of Karlsruhe, he made the Universität Karlsruhe gain international recognition. The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering will celebrate Redtenbacher’s birthday with a colloquium on Friday, July 24, 15 hrs, at the Tulla-Hörsaal (building 11.40, Englerstraße 11).
“Redtenbacher realized very early that an engineer must know more than mere engineering”, underlines Professor Martin Gabi, dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. “For this reason, he put all his efforts into an integrated engineering education”. It was the opinion of Redtenbacher that progress in engineering is essentially based on the synthesis of mathematico-scientific basic knowledge and social competence, on the one hand, as well as on the classical art of engineering and technical skills, on the other.
In 1847, Redtenbacher, together with the chemist Carl Weltzien, established separate professional schools for mechanical engineering and chemistry. Since then, the departments of architecture, civil engineering, chemistry, and mechanical engineering have existed in parallel, combined with a basic mathematical education. “This structure was taken over by nearly all technical universities in the following decades”, says the head of the Karlsruhe University Archive, Dr. Klaus Nippert. “Hence, Redtenbacher contributed decisively to establishing this type of university.”
In the honor of this ingenious engineer and university teacher, the faculty has now rearranged a collection of historic constructive demonstration objects, which were partly created by Redtenbacher himself. This collection will be open to visitors during the day at the Altes Maschinengebäude (building 10.91, Engelbert-Arnold-Straße 4) from July 24.
The invited lecture of the faculty colloquium on June 24 will be presented by Dr. Klaus Mauersberger, director of the art collection of the Technical University of Dresden, who wrote a biography on Redtenbacher’s lifework together with Professor Jörg Wauer from the KIT Institute of Technical Mechanics and Professor Francis Charles Moon from the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This biography was published in the international journal “Mechanism and Machine Theory”. On the occasion of the faculty colloquium, a special edition of the biography in the German language will be displayed.
Journalists are cordially invited to the colloquium.
Program
Opening of the colloquium with a birthday cake and coffee
Welcome by the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Professor Dr.-Ing. Martin Gabi
Address by the Vice-President
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Becker
Ferdinand Redtenbacher –
Founder of Scientific Mechanical Engineering
Invited lecture by Dr.-Ing. Klaus Mauersberger,
Director of the art collection
of the Technical University of Dresden
Honors
2008 Ph. D. Student Award
Dr.-Ing. Willy-Höfler Ph. D. Student Award
Ceremony of Awards in the German-French Studies Course 2008
L´Oréal Awards
2008 Graduates Award
Hand-out of diploma and bachelor certificates
Musical program: Ensemble Dalel Quartet
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