Gisbert Johann Eduard Kapp (2 September 1852,

Mauer, Vienna Mauer (German for ''"wall"''; Central Bavarian: ''Maua'') is a former village of Lower Austria that has been part of Vienna since 1938. Today's cadastral community belongs to the 23rd District of Vienna, called Liesing. In the west, Mauer border ...

– 10 August 1922,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

electrical engineer. His parents were an Austrian counselor Gisbert Kapp and

Luisa Kapp-Young Luisa Kapp-Young (, Young; pseudonym, Luisa Cappiani; 23 April 1835 – 27 September 1919), was an Austrian dramatic operatic soprano, musical educator, and essayist who used the principle of the Aeolian harp emission of tone, which excluded al ...

. After finishing his studies in Austria, Kapp moved to England where he was naturalized in 1881. He was awarded a

Telford Medal The Telford Medal is a prize awarded by the British Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for a paper or series of papers. It was introduced in 1835 following a bequest made by Thomas Telford, the ICE's first president. It can be awarded in gold ...

in 1885/6. In 1904 he was offered the position as the first Chair of Electrical Engineering at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

, a post he held until 1919. In 1909 he was elected the president of the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of T ...

. (Presidential address, Institution of Electrical Engineers, 11 November 1911) Kapp developed the basis for the calculation and construction of

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundati ...

s and the

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

. The Electronic, Electrical & Systems Engineering Department at the University of Birmingham is situated in a building named after him.

References

1852 births 1922 deaths British electrical engineers British people of Austrian descent People from Liesing {{UK-engineer-stub