Hans Behn-Eschenburg (10 January 1864 – 18 May 1938) was born in Obertrass (now Zurich), Switzerland. His work on the AC single-phase motor was important to the electrification of railways. He studied mathematics and physics in Zurich and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

between 1886 and 1890. In 1892, Behn-Eschenburg worked at

Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon was a Swiss engineering company based in the Zürich district of Oerlikon (Zürich), Oerlikon known for the early development of electric locomotives. It was founded in 1876 by the industrialist Peter Emil Huber-Werdmü ...

, where he became chief electrician (1897-1911), director (1911–1913), director General Technical (1913-1928) and Administrative Counselor (1919-1938). Oerlikon was prominent in the construction of single-phase motors with commutators for traction. He died on 18 May 1938 in

Küsnacht Küsnacht is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. History Küsnacht is first mentioned in 1188 as ''de Cussenacho''. Earliest findings of settlement date back to the stone age. There are also finding ...

. His work focussed on

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 ...

technology, including the

asynchronous motor An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor needed to produce torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding. An induction motor c ...

and the AC single-phase motor. which marked a major turning point in the electrification of railways. Behn-Eschenburg gave his name to a vector diagram for synchronous reactance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behn-Eschenburg, Hans 1864 births 1938 deaths Swiss electrical engineers People from Zürich