Ernst Werner Siemens | Generated by AI
Ernst Werner Siemens (1816–1892), later known as Werner von Siemens after being ennobled in 1888, was a German inventor and industrialist who founded Siemens & Halske (now Siemens AG) in 1847. Born in Lenthe, near Hanover, in the Kingdom of Hanover, he was the fourth of fourteen children in a financially strained family. His father, Christian Ferdinand Siemens, was a tenant farmer, and unable to afford university education for Werner, who joined the Prussian army at 17 to access engineering training at the Artillery and Engineering School in Berlin (1835–1838).
While serving in the army, Siemens pursued scientific interests. In 1841, he was briefly imprisoned for acting as a second in a duel, using the time to conduct chemistry experiments. His first invention, a gold and silver electroplating process in 1842, was sold to fund his family’s needs after his parents’ deaths (1839 and 1840). Inspired by Charles Wheatstone’s electric telegraph, Siemens developed an improved pointer telegraph in 1847, which used a needle to indicate letters instead of Morse code. With mechanic Johann Georg Halske, he founded Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske in Berlin on October 1, 1847, to manufacture and repair telegraphs.
The company quickly grew, securing a contract in 1848 to build a 500-km telegraph line from Berlin to Frankfurt, one of Europe’s first long-distance lines. Siemens expanded internationally, with his brother Carl Wilhelm (later Sir William) representing the firm in London and Carl Heinrich in St. Petersburg. The company laid major telegraph networks, including the 1867 Indo-European line from London to Calcutta. Siemens’ innovations included using gutta-percha to insulate telegraph cables (1847), enabling underground and submarine cables, and inventing the self-excited dynamo (1866), which revolutionized electricity generation.
Siemens & Halske diversified into dynamos, electric railways, trams, locomotives, elevators, and lighting, shaping the Industrial Revolution. Werner’s vision of a global “world firm” relied on family, with branches often led by kin, though this limited expansion in markets like the U.S. due to a lack of trusted family members. He advocated modern patent laws, coined the term “Elektrotechnik” (electrical engineering), and helped establish the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in 1887.
A social democrat, Siemens opposed exploitative capitalism, favoring worker cooperatives and knowledge-driven industry. He married twice, first to Mathilde Drumann (1852–1867), with sons Arnold and Georg Wilhelm, and then to Antonie Siemens (1869), with daughter Hertha and son Carl Friedrich. He retired in 1890, passing leadership to his brother Carl and sons, and died in Berlin in 1892. His family retained influence, with descendants owning 6% of Siemens AG as of 2013. The SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens, honors his legacy.
Siemens AG, formed in 1966 through mergers, remains a global leader in automation, energy, and health technology, employing 320,000 people with €78 billion in revenue (2023). Despite controversies, including Nazi-era forced labor, Siemens’ foundations trace to Werner’s telegraph and dynamo innovations. His entrepreneurial and inventive spirit made him a pioneer of electrical engineering.