Karl Wilhelm Ritter (german: Karl Wilhelm Ritter; April 14, 1847 in Liestal (

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

) – October 18, 1906 in

Zell, Zürich Zell is a municipality in the district of Winterthur in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Zell has an area of . Of this area, 43.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 42.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 12.5% is s ...

) was a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

, and later rector of the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich (1887–1891).

Biography

Ritter was born to a teacher, Johann Friedrich Ritter, and his wife Barbara Salate on April 14, 1847. He graduated from the Technical School in Basel (1865–68) with a diploma in engineering. In 1868, he became a railway engineer in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, and in 1869, an assistant to

Carl Culmann Carl Culmann (10 July 1821 – 9 December 1881) was a German structural engineer. Born in Bad Bergzabern, Palatinate region, Rhenish Palatinate, in modern-day Germany, Culmann's father, a pastor, tutored him at home before enrolling him at the m ...

. In 1870, he became a professor of engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich, and from 1873 to 1882, a professor of engineering in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. From 1882 to 1905, he held a professorship of engineering in Zurich. Additionally, he would hold the rectorship of the Polytechnic Institute from 1887 to 1891. Ritter died in Zurich on October 22, 1906 and was buried in the cemetery of

Turbenthal Turbenthal is a municipality in the district of Winterthur located in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Turbenthal has an area of . Of this area, 34.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 57.6% is forested. Of the rest of t ...

Scientific activity

Ritter worked on the statics of engineering structures and the construction of bridges and railways at the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich. He also continued the teachings of Culmann as a theorist. He regarded statics as an engineering discipline and also developed kinematics. One of his students was

Othmar Ammann Othmar Hermann Ammann (March 26, 1879 – September 22, 1965) was a Swiss-American civil engineer whose bridge designs include the George Washington Bridge, Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and Bayonne Bridge. He also directed the planning and constru ...

. Ritter contributed to the theory of calculating

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

structures, and also wrote a number articles on the state of real structures. He participated in the work of the Construction Commission of Zurich and the board of the Swiss Union of Engineers and Architects (1896–98). Ritter developed the first design scheme for tunnel lining to deal with the effects of loads from collapsing rock.М.М. Протодьяконов "Давление горных пород и рудничное крепление". - М.-Л.: Государственное Научно-Техническое Издательство, 1930, Ч.1. - 104 с.

Awards, recognition

* Honorary Citizen of Zurich (1889) * Honorary Doctor of the University of Zurich (1896).

Personal life

Ritter married Magdalena Jacobi, an American, in 1875. His younger brother Herman Ritter (1851–1918) was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. Karl Wilhem's son, Woldemar Ritter (1880–c.1935) would also become a prominent architect, specializing in church buildings. Woldemar principally practiced in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and is noted for his work on Episcopal churches, especially Grace and St. Peter's Church and Emmanuel Church in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

References

Bibliography

* Ritter, W.: ''Die statik der tunnelgewölbe''. - Berlin, J. Springer, 1879. - 66 p. * Ritter, W.: ''Statische Berechnung der Versteifungsfachwerke der Hängebrücken'', in: Schweizerische Bauzeitung, 1883. Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 6-38. (in German). * Ritter, W.: ''Anwendungen der graphischen Statik''. Nach Professor C. Culmann. Erster Teil: Die im Inneren eines Balkens wirkenden Kräfte. Zurich: Meyer & Zeller, 1888. (in German). * Ritter, W.: ''Anwendungen der graphischen Statik''. Nach Professor C. Culmann. Zweiter Teil: Das Fachwerk. Zurich: Meyer & Zeller, 1890. (in German). * Ritter, W.: ''Die Bauweise Hennebique''. Schweizerische Bauzeitung, Vol. 3, 1899, No. 5, pp. 41-43, No. 6, pp. 49-52 & No. 7, pp. 59-61. (in German). * Ritter, W.: ''Anwendungen der graphischen Statik''. Nach Professor C. Culmann. Dritter Teil: Der kontinuierliche Balken. Zurich: A. Raustein, 1900. (in German). * Ritter, W.: ''Anwendungen der graphischen Statik''. Nach Professor C. Culmann. Erster Teil: Der Bogen. Zurich: A. Raustein, 1906. (in German).

Literature

* * Urs Widmer: ''Ritter, Karl Wilhelm''. In: Isabelle Rucki und Dorothee Huber (Hg): ''Architektenlexikon der Schweiz - 19./20. Jahrhundert'' Basel: Birkhäuser 1998. * E. M.: ''Wilhelm Ritter''. Nekrolog in: Schweizerische Bauzeitung, Bd 48 (1906), S. 204-206 * Christine Lehmann, Bertram Maurer: ''Karl Culmann und die graphische Statik''. Ernst und Sohn, Berlin 2006, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritter, Karl Wilhelm 1847 births 1906 deaths ETH Zurich faculty Swiss civil engineers People from Liestal