August Otto Föppl (25 January 1854 – 12 August 1924) was a professor of Technical Mechanics and Graphical Statics at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

, Germany. He is credited with introducing the Föppl–Klammer theory and the Föppl–von Kármán equations (large deflection of elastic plates).

Life

Föppl was born in Groß-Unstadt, Hesse where his father Carl August Föppl was a physician. He went to study engineering at Darmstadt Polytechnic in 1869 and then moved to Stuttgart where he studied under Otto Mohr. He then went to Karlsruhe. He then taught engineering at Holzminden from 1877 to 1892 while also studying physics at Leipzig University. His doctoral advisor was Gustav Heinrich Wiedemann and his thesis was on the strength of timber frames and arches. one of Föppl's first doctoral students was

Ludwig Prandtl Ludwig Prandtl (4 February 1875 – 15 August 1953) was a German Fluid mechanics, fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlyin ...

, his future son-in-law. He married Emilie Schenck (1856–1924) and they had two sons and three daughters. His daughter Gertrud married Prandtl. Son Ludwig Föppl became a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

and Professor of Technical Mechanics at the

. Otto Föppl became an engineer and Professor of Applied Mechanics at the

Technical University of Braunschweig TU Braunschweig (, unofficially ''University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology'') is the oldest ' (comparable to an institute of technology in the American system) in Germany. It was founded in 1745 as Collegium Carolinum and is a membe ...

for 30 years.

Career

In 1894, Föppl wrote a widely read introductory book on Maxwell's theory of electricity, titled ''Einführung in die Maxwellsche Theorie der Elektrizität''. (This was the first German-language textbook on Maxwell's theory of electrodynamics and one of the books that influenced Einstein.) This 1894 book pioneered the use of Maxwell's theory in Germany and made Föppl famous as a scientist. Gerald Holton argues, that some arguments of Föppl concerning

electromagnetic induction Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force, electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1 ...

, had some influence on

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

's first paper on

special relativity In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory of the relationship between Spacetime, space and time. In Albert Einstein's 1905 paper, Annus Mirabilis papers#Special relativity, "On the Ele ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foppl, August Otto 1854 births 1924 deaths Engineers from Hesse Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich People from Groß-Umstadt Leipzig University alumni

Life

Career

See also

References

External links