Robert Gerwig (1820–1885) was a German

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

. Gerwig was born on 2 May 1820 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

, in the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

, and attended the Großherzogliches Polytechnikum (now known as

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

) where he studied civil engineering, primarily road construction. In the 1860s, Gerwigs attention and professional skills turned toward

rail transport 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 ...

. He was one of the principal designers of the Black Forest Railway, which avoided steep grades through the use of numerous loops and curved

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

s. He applied the principle again for the Gotthard Railway at the double loop of Wassen. His last rail project was the Höllental Railway, also in Germany's

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

region. Later in life, Gerwig turned to politics. He was active in the government of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

. He also served as the first director (1850-) of the Clockmakers School (''Uhrmacherschule'') in Furtwangen. In 1852 he began collecting

clock A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The clock is one of the oldest Invention, human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month, a ...

s; his collection formed the basis for 'Study Collection" of the school and eventually became the German Clock Museum (''Deutsches Uhrenmuseum''). Gerwig died on 6 December 1885.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerwig, Robert 1820 births 1885 deaths Engineers from Karlsruhe People from the Grand Duchy of Baden German Protestants National Liberal Party (Germany) politicians Members of the Second Chamber of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of Baden Members of the 3rd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 4th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 5th Reichstag of the German Empire German civil engineers German railway mechanical engineers Engineers from the German Empire