Siegfried Popper (5 January 1848,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

– 19 April 1933, Prague) was a

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture by occupation Design occupations Occupations Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's rol ...

in late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

Biography

Popper was born in Prague to Joachim Popper, a fine goods dealer (Galanteriewarenhandler) and Anna Schulhof. He attended the Nikolander Realschule (Technical School) before attending the Deutsche Technische Hochschule in Prague for one year. He gained a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

after a three-year study at

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 ...

Naval career

Popper spent three years at various engineering works in Prague before joining the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', ) was the navy, naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were designated ''SMS'', for ''Seiner Majestät Schiff'' (His Majes ...

on 1 December 1869 as a draughtsman. He began working on ship design in 1887, when he prepared plans for the torpedo cruiser . He rose to the rank of Schiffbau-General-Ingenieur (engineering admiral), a rank which was created for him and which was conferred on 30 April 1904. He was responsible for the design of all the ships of the navy built until his retirement on 1 April 1907. He was granted an honorary doctorate by

Vienna University The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

in 1916 and returned it, about 1930, when the university introduced "Numera Clausa".

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

offered him a chair in naval architecture at the

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ) ...

in Charlottenburg (now

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

), but Popper declined this offer. By the time he retired, Popper was in poor health. He was hard of hearing and his vision was poor. After retiring from the navy he worked as a consultant for Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (S.T.T.), at that time the only fabricator of large warships in the monarchy.

Retirement and death

After retirement Popper devoted much of his time to translating

Hebrew literature Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews, mostly among the Arab cit ...

into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. Because of his deafness he was run down by a tram in Prague and died several days later, on 19 April 1933.

References

1848 births 1933 deaths Naval architects from Austria-Hungary Architects from Prague Austro-Hungarian Navy officers {{CzechRepublic-bio-stub