Maximilian Moritz Schröter (25 February 1851 – 12 March 1925) was a German industrial engineer and university professor of

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...

and the theory of

machine A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromol ...

Life and career

Moritz Schröter was the son of Moritz Schröter, who himself was a university professor. After his father′s death in 1867,

Gustav Zeuner Gustav Anton Zeuner (30 November 1828 – 17 October 1907) was a German physicist, engineer and epistemologist, considered the founder of technical thermodynamics and of the Dresden School of Thermodynamics. Life University and Revolution Z ...

became the guardian of 16-year-old Schröter. After finishing the Gymnasium in Zürich, Schröter studied at the '' Polytechnikum Zürich'', where he was awarded a diploma in engineering. From 1873 to 1876 he worked in the locomotive factory ''Georg Sigl'' in

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

. He then returned to Zürich, to become the university assistant of Georg Veith. In 1879, Schröter became a professor of theory of machines at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

, where he built a new laboratory for machine design. From 1908 to 1911, he was the university's rector. Schröter helped designing four important machines in engineering history: the

refrigerator A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermal insulation, thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to ...

(1887), the steam superheater (1894/1895), the

Diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

(1897), and the

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

(1900).

Bibliography

* Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß: ''Schröter, Moritz''. In: ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (NDB). Issue 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007 , pp. 587 {{DEFAULTSORT:Schroter, Moritz 1851 births 1925 deaths 19th-century German engineers 20th-century German engineers Engineers from Munich 19th-century German inventors People associated with the internal combustion engine Scientists from Zurich Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich Presidents of the Technical University of Munich