Carl Culmann
Karl Culmann Carl Culmann (* July 10, 1821 in Bergzabern (today Bad Bergzabern ); † December 9, 1881 in Zurich ) was a civil engineer, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and author of the book The graphical statics.
Life and work
Karl Culmann was born on 10 July 1821 in Bergzabern in the Rhine Palatinate. His father was a pastor. Karl Culmann showed an early interest in mathematics, the College visited in Wissembourg (France ) and then the trade school in Kaiserslautern. In 1841, he put the final examination at the Polytechnic in Karlsruhe from. Since Bergzabern belonged to Bavaria, Culmann was first assistant, later Baupraktikant the Bavarian railway construction. He planned and built under the technical direction of Friedrich August Pauli the Ludwig South - North Railway through the Fichtelgebirge. Considerable gradients had to be overcome, and the distance was measured from Culmann first for British locomotives and then once again for American locomotives that could cope with steeper gradients and tighter turns.
Known to the public as an engineer Culmann was first by his England and America Trip 1849/50, of which he brought his "truss theory ".
1855 Culmann, including through mediation by Max Eyth, to the then being established Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich was appointed Professor of Engineering. Between 1872 and 1875 he was principal. 1880 honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich, he was awarded.
Culmann gutach preparing for the Swiss Federal Council on a number of technical projects, such as a horse - tram for Zurich and almost all bridge construction projects of its time. He has also written an inventory of all streams of southern Switzerland.
His main work The graphical statics appeared 1866. It covers drawing methods to calculate the forces in steel structures such as trusses and steel bridges. " Drawing is the language of the engineer ," Culmanns was credo. His graphical method experienced a meteoric rise to technical colleges and high schools. His students included Maurice Koechlin also, one of the designers of the Eiffel Tower, which is in a sense the visualization of graphical statics in the building.
Even today there are still the Culmann method by which it is possible to obtain simple solutions under certain conditions. Also in the soil mechanics a graphical method for the determination of earth pressure on retaining walls is named after him.
Culmann died on December 9, 1881 in Zurich with pneumonia. His grave is located on Zurich's Friedhof Sihlfeld.
Honor
On October 20, 1884, bust, designed by Alfred Friedrich Bluntschli ( 1842-1930 ) and executed by Richard Kissling ( 1848-1919 ) was unveiled and fed to the remaining capital of CHF 8,000 to the foundation's mission to promote in his former field of science.