Franz Grashof (11 July 1826 – 26 October 1893) was a German engineer. He was a professor of Applied Mechanics at the

Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public university, public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Ka ...

Biography

Born in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, as the son of Elisabeth Brüggemann and Karl Grashof, who taught at an upper secondary school, Franz Grashof visited the elementary and lower secondary school in Düsseldorf and the industrial school in Hagen. Motivated by the rise of steamers and the railway, he started working at a locksmith's shop. In October 1844 Franz Grashof quit school to start studying metallurgy at the royal vocational institute in Berlin, where he studied mathematics, physics and mechanical engineering. From 1847 to 1848 he interrupted his studies to voluntarily serve for the military. To serve his country he aimed at becoming a marine officer. Therefore, he had to start working as a simple sailor on a sailing ship called “Esmeralda”. Until December 1851 he sailed around the world and realized that practical work was not his main professional skill. On his journey he decided to teach at a technical school. That's why he carried on studying in Berlin in 1852. In 1854 Franz Grashof concluded his studies and became a teacher in mathematics and mechanics at the royal vocational institute in Berlin. In 1855 he got the leadership of the royal gauging office in Berlin. In the following year he was involved in the establishment of the

Association of German Engineers Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) (English: Association of German Engineers) is an organization of about 135,000 engineers and natural scientists. More than 12,000 honorary experts process the latest technical findings each year to promote the tec ...

and became its managing director until 1890. From 1863 to 1891 he was a professor of General and Theoretical Machine Science at the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe. He developed some early steam-flow formulas but made significant contribution to free convection. On October 26, 1893, he died after his second stroke.

Honors

In Karlsruhe (Germany) on October 26, 1896, a memorial was inaugurated to honor his efforts. The

Grashof Number In fluid mechanics (especially fluid thermodynamics), the Grashof number (, after Franz Grashof) is a dimensionless number which approximates the ratio of the buoyancy to viscous forces acting on a fluid. It frequently arises in the study of si ...

was named after him. It is a very important dimensionless parameter in analyzing natural or free convection. The Grashof Condition was also named after him. It is a test used often when analysing kinematic chains. After Grashof's death, the Association of German Engineers (VDI) honored his memory by instituting the ''Grashof Commemorative Medal'' as the highest distinction that the society could bestow for merit in the engineering skills.

References

External links

Franz Grashof
at the University of Texas * Grashof's criterion wiki {{DEFAULTSORT:Grashof, Franz 1826 births 1893 deaths Engineers from North Rhine-Westphalia Academic staff of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology German fluid dynamicists