Béla Gerster also known by his Slovak name as Vojtech Mikuláš Gerster (20 October 1850 – 3 August 1923) was a HungarianHis bio in the archive of a Hungarian science magazine
in Hungarian engineer and canal architect. He took part in an early expedition to determine the route of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

, and was the chief engineer of the

Corinth Canal The Corinth Canal () is a canal in Greece that connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. Completed in 1893, it cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and "separates" the Peloponnese peninsula fro ...

Early life and education

Béla Gerster was born in 1850 at Kassa (then in the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

, at present in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

’s

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

) . He graduated from the Vienna University of Technology and he also started his profession in this city as a civil engineer.

Career

As an expert on water constructions, Gerster accompanied

Lucien Bonaparte-Wyse Lucien Napoléon Bonaparte-Wyse (13 January 1845 – 15 June 1909), also known as Lucien Napoléon-Bonaparte Wyse, was a French engineer. He was instrumental in the decision to build the Panama Canal in Panama as a sea-level canal. Life Famil ...

and Lt. Armand Réclus in two expeditions in 1876-1878 commissioned to locate the most suitable route for an interoceanic canal. The leaders of the team wrote a report claiming that s sea-level canal across the

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Isthmus was feasible. Gerster wrote a minority report pointing out the inadequate nature of the survey and the potential difficulties of the project, but was unable to find a publisher. Gerster1

After

István Türr István Türr (, ; 10 August 1825 – 3 May 1908) was a Hungarian soldier, revolutionary, canal architect and engineer, remembered in Italy for his role in that country's unification and his association with Garibaldi. In the later years of his ...

was granted permission by the Greek government to revive the long abandoned idea works of cutting through of the Corinthian Isthmus (it was Emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

who first attempted this in 68 AD). Gerster was given charge over making the plans in 1881. Afterwards he supervised the whole project as the chief engineer of the canal building company; his co-workers in this endeavour were another four Hungarian engineers: István Kauser, László Nyári, Garibaldi Pulszky and István Stéghmüller. The construction lasted for 11 years (1882–1893). The Corinth Canal is 6,343 metres long; its width amounts to 25 metres, its depth 8 metres and the earth cliffs flanking it reach a maximum height of 63 metres. Gerster wrote about his experiences in his Hungarian- French bilingual book "A korinthusi földszoros és átmetszése" / "Cutting through the Corinthian Isthmus". This book features a lot of photographs, construction drawings and maps. He also laid out a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line from

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

to Larisa. He participated in the development of

's monumental plans of water-supply engineering in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

. Later on he conducted the designing, construction and building of 13 major railway lines in Hungary. Lastly, in 1919 he administered the works at the Duna-

Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...

Canal. He died in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Hungary in 1923.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerster, Bela 1850 births 1923 deaths People from Košice TU Wien alumni Danube-Swabian people Hungarian people of German descent Architects from the Kingdom of Hungary Hungarian canal engineers Engineers from Austria-Hungary

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

Further reading

External links