Johann Georg Halske (30 July 1814 – 18 March 1890) was a German master

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

Biography

Born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, Halske started his own workshop in Berlin in 1844, which he ran together with his partner F. M. Böttcher. In 1847 Halske founded the Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company together with Werner von Siemens. Halske was particularly involved in the construction and design of electrical equipment such as the press which enabled wires to be insulated with a seamless coat of

gutta-percha Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus '' Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex derived from the tree, particularly fr ...

, the pointer

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

and the morse telegraph and measuring instruments. In 1867 he withdrew from the company because his views on company policy diverged from those of the Siemens brothers and devoted himself in his role as a Berlin city councillor to the administration of the city and the establishment of the Museum of Decorative Art. He remained friends with Werner von Siemens until Halske's death in 1890. Even after his departure, he continued to support the company and participated financially in the Siemens pension fund, founded in 1872.

References

External links

Lifelines: Johann Georg Halske. Vol. 1, ed. Siemens Historical Institute, Munich 2014

Picture, biography, and bibliography
in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science 1814 births 1890 deaths German mechanical engineers German company founders 19th-century German businesspeople Businesspeople from Hamburg Siemens people Engineers from Hamburg {{Germany-business-bio-stub