Robert Gerwig (1820–1885) was a German

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 ...

. Gerwig was born on 2 May 1820 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, in the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

, and attended the Großherzogliches Polytechnikum (now known as

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

) where he studied civil engineering, primarily road construction. In the 1860s, Gerwigs attention and professional skills turned toward

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

. He was one of the principal designers of the Black Forest Railway, which avoided steep grades through the use of numerous loops and curved

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s. He applied the principle again for the

Gotthard Railway The Gotthard railway (german: Gotthardbahn; it, Ferrovia del Gottardo) is the Swiss trans-alpine railway line from northern Switzerland to the canton of Ticino. The line forms a major part of an important international railway link between no ...

at the double loop of

Wassen Wassen is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. Geography , Wassen has an area of . Of this area, 12.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and ...

. His last rail project was the Höllental Railway, also in Germany's

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

region. Later in life, Gerwig turned to politics. He was active in the government of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

. He also served as the first director (1850-) of the Clockmakers School (''Uhrmacherschule'') in

Furtwangen Furtwangen im Schwarzwald (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Furtwange im Schwarzwald'') is a small city located in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. Together with Villingen-Schwenningen, Furtwangen is part of the district (Ge ...

. In 1852 he began collecting

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

s; his collection formed the basis for 'Study Collection" of the school and eventually became the

German Clock Museum The German Clock Museum (german: Deutsches Uhrenmuseum) is situated near the centre of the Black Forest town of Furtwangen im Schwarzwald (Germany), a historical centre of clockmaking. It features permanent and temporary exhibits on the history of t ...

(''Deutsches Uhrenmuseum''). Gerwig died on 6 December 1885.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerwig, Robert 1820 births 1885 deaths Engineers from Karlsruhe People from the Grand Duchy of Baden German Protestants National Liberal Party (Germany) politicians Members of the Second Chamber of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of Baden Members of the 3rd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 4th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 5th Reichstag of the German Empire German civil engineers German railway mechanical engineers