Magnus Wilhelm Alexander (February 1870 – September 10, 1932) was a German-born American electrical engineer and a technical designer for the General Electric Company and the

Westinghouse Electric Company Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...

. He also became a

social reform A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...

er in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

by working on state boards and commissions in such areas as

workmen's compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

and retirement benefits. Alexander was the son of Alexander M. and M. (Jelenkiewicz) A. Alexander. He studied

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to object ...

, metallurgy, and electrical engineering at the Austrian universities of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, 1889, the

Leoben Leoben () is a Styrian city in central Austria, located on the Mur river. With a population of about 25,000 it is a local industrial centre and hosts the University of Leoben, which specialises in mining. The Peace of Leoben, an armistice bet ...

, 1891, and the University of Gratz, 1892. Following the completion of his

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

education, Alexander was employed by Austria's largest steel-making company. In 1893, he joined Weston Electrical Instrument Company as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

and a technical designer. In the following year, he was recruited by Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., and he emigrated to the United States. After five years with the Westinghouse Corp., he joined the Siemens and Halske Electric Co., a German corporation with operations in North America. In the year 1900, the General Electric Company hired him as its chief engineer in charge of design, which was a position that he held until 1918. Thereafter, he served as GE's consulting engineer on economic issues until 1922. While with General Electric, Alexander began turning his attention to

industrial education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

. He created and directed the General Electric Education and Personnel Department in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

. In 1907, he set up a partnership between G.E. and the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in which G.E. provided both apprenticeships and in-house technical courses for newly graduated

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

engineers. Alexander also served on the Old Age Pension Commission of Massachusetts and on the Massachusetts Workman's Compensation Commission. He became a charter member of the National Association of Corporate schools, the

American Management Association The American Management Association (AMA) is an American non-profit educational membership organization for the promotion of management, based in New York City. Besides its headquarters there, it has local head offices throughout the world. It ...

, the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, and of the

American Institute of Electrical Engineers The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was a United States-based organization of electrical engineers that existed from 1884 through 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) to form the Insti ...

(AIEE). Alexander was an early participant, along with

Wesley Mitchell Wesley Clair Mitchell (August 5, 1874 – October 29, 1948) was an American economist known for his empirical work on business cycles and for guiding the National Bureau of Economic Research in its first decades. Mitchell was referred to as Thor ...

and Malcolm Rorty, in the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

. He also created the National Industrial Conference Board (now known as

The Conference Board The Conference Board, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit business membership and research group organization. It counts over 1,000 public and private corporations and other organizations as members, encompassing 60 countries. The Conference Board co ...

) along with Frederick P. Fish, Frank A. Vanderlip, and Loyall Osborne.

References

* Noble, David F. ''America by Design: Science, Technology, and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977. * Who's Who on the Web, s.v. "Magnus W. Alexander" (n.p.:

Marquis Who's Who Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...

, 2005) {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Magnus W 1870 births 1932 deaths German electrical engineers General Electric people Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States American electrical engineers 19th-century German engineers 19th-century American engineers 20th-century American engineers University of Vienna alumni University of Leoben alumni University of Graz alumni