Dagobert Müller von Thomamühl (born 24 June 1880 in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

, died 10 January 1956 in

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

) was an Austrian naval officer and inventor.

Life

Dagobert Müller-Thomamühl attended from 1890 to 1895 the secondary school in

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the I ...

and from 1895 to 1899 the Naval Academy in

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...

. He took part in 1900/1901 as a midshipman on the global circumnavigation by the covered screw corvette, SMS ''Donau'' (SMS Danube). From 1904 to 1918 he was commander and flotilla leader on torpedo boats and destroyers. In 1910 he founded the diving school of the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian War Navy and reached, as the first non-armored diver, the depth of 64 m in the Mediterranean. Müller-Thomamühl designed directional controllers for

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...

es and torpedo search equipment and in 1915 built the first rigid walled air cushion torpedo speedboat. He founded the torpedo command of the Austrian navy and in 1918 made experiments with aircraft torpedoes. He was also the inventor of the photoelectric switch. This device was ready for use in 1916 and was patented in Austria in 1924. In the inter-war period Müller-Thomamühl built a car factory in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximat ...

and in Croatia some hydroelectric power stations. He led until 1945 a technical office and a trading company for the representation of shipyards and marine equipment.

External links

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Nachbau des Bootes
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