Siegfried Popper (5 January 1848,
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
– 19 April 1933, Prague) was an eminent
naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners.
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in late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century middle Europe.
Biography
Popper was born in Prague to Joachim Popper, a fine goods dealer (Galanteriewarenhandler) and Anna Schulhof. He attended the Nikolander Realschule (Technical School) before attending the Technical University in Prague for one year. He gained a degree in
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...
after a three-year study at
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Naval career
Popper spent three years at various engineering works in Prague before joining the
Austro-Hungarian Navy on 1 December 1869 as a draughtsman. He began working on ship design in 1887, when he prepared plans for the
torpedo cruiser
A torpedo cruiser is a type of warship that is armed primarily with torpedoes. The major navies began building torpedo cruisers shortly after the invention of the locomotive Whitehead torpedo in the 1860s. The development of the torpedo gave rise ...
. He rose to the rank of Schiffbau-General-Ingenieur (engineering admiral), a rank which was created for him and which was conferred on 30 April 1904. He was responsible for the design of all the ships of the navy built until his retirement on 1 April 1907. He was granted an honorary doctorate by
Vienna University in 1916 and returned it, about 1930, when the university introduced "Numera Clausa".
Kaiser Wilhelm II
, house = Hohenzollern
, father = Frederick III, German Emperor
, mother = Victoria, Princess Royal
, religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United)
, signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...
offered him a chair in naval architecture at the
Technical University of Berlin at
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...
, but Popper declined this offer. By the time he retired, Popper was in poor health. He was hard of hearing and his vision was poor.
After retiring from the navy he worked as a consultant for
Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (S.T.T.), at that time the only fabricator of large warships in the monarchy.
Retirement and death
After retirement Popper devoted much of his time to translating
Hebrew literature into
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
. Because of his deafness he was run down by a tram in Prague and died several days later, on 19 April 1933.
References
1848 births
1933 deaths
Austro-Hungarian naval architects
Architects from Prague
Austro-Hungarian Navy officers
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