Werner von Siemens was born in in the
village of Lenthe near Hannover, Germany.
December , marks the th anniversary
of his birth. To commemorate this occasion, the
Siemens Historical Institute commissioned
a biographical portrait of this entrepreneur and
inventor who started life as the son of a tenant
farmer and rose to become one of the outstand-
ing figures of the th century.
The brochure is the fi fth volume in the LIFE-
LINES series, which is dedicated to introducing
the men and women who have done the
most to shape the history and development of
Siemens. This group includes businessmen
who led the company, members of the Manag-
ing Board, engineers, inventors and creative
thinkers. A conscious effort has been made to
include the lives and contributions of those
individuals who are not always counted among
the company’s most prominent fi gures.
5
Introduction
Few business personalities have remained as well-known over the
years as Werner von Siemens, the “Father of Electrical Engineer-
ing”. Yet even two centuries after his birth, much still remains to
be discovered about the man’s biography. Even more, there is a
genuine need to develop a picture of Werner von Siemens appro-
priate for our times. For research of that nature, the correspond-
ence between Werner von Siemens and his siblings – comprising
some 6,500 letters preserved at the Siemens Historical Institute –
offers a virtually inexhaustible resource.
Werner von Siemens was born in 1816 on a farm estate in what
is now Lower Saxony. He grew up in a period when incipient indus-
trialization was changing the world as never before. While still a
schoolboy, he discovered an interest in mathematics and technol-
ogy. As university study was beyond his fi nancial reach, he served
for many years in the military to acquire a background in technol-
ogy and science. Then came the discovery of his life’s mission: the
application of electricity. In October 1847, Werner von Siemens
joined forces with precision mechanic Johann Georg Halske and
his own cousin Johann Georg Siemens to found a telegraph con-
struction company – the forerunner of today’s Siemens
AG
.
Business and family were always inseparable for Werner von
Siemens; several of his brothers were working for the company.
The close relationship among three Siemens brothers – Werner,
William and Carl, working respectively in Berlin, London and
St. Petersburg – gave rise to a multinational family-run company
that well understood what to do with the opportunities offered by
the age’s fi rst wave of globalization. Werner von Siemens’ inven-
tion of the dynamo machine in 1866 made him one of the pioneers
of a new era in the history of electrical engineering. The dynamo
made it possible to put electricity to work generating energy, light-
ing streets and homes, and driving machines and vehicles.
Werner von Siemens, ca. 1864
6
7
Posterity came to associate the name “Werner von Siemens”
primarily with inventions. Within just a few years after his death,
he had already been idealized as a hero of German technology.
Schools and streets were named not for the businessman, but for
the inventor. That perspective began to dim in later decades – and
with it, our image of Werner von Siemens. Over the past 70 years,
the only noteworthy biographies to appear have been produced
by directors of the Siemens Archive or SiemensForum.
1
Yet researching Werner von Siemens
is certainly still worth-
while today, especially when one looks at the man as a whole, free
from idealization. It becomes clear what a wide range of talents it
took to be both a highly successful businessman, a gifted techni-
cian, and an important inventor. Above and beyond those qualities,
Werner von Siemens also stood out as the father-fi gure who held
a large family together. And he was notable as one of the fi rst indus-
trialists to recognize the connection between scientifi c research
and economic development. Most of all, what made Werner von
Siemens so special was his versatility.
The present biography shows us a man of fi rm principles, who
always pursued his goals with the greatest persistence and stami-
na, overcoming both calamities and dry spells in the process. He
was able to do all this because he focused not on short-term gain,
but on creating something that would last. The ultimate currency
that counted for him was “receiving recognition of the rightness
of my actions and the usefulness of my work”.
2
Origins and education
Childhood in the country
Werner von Siemens was not a businessman straight out of the
cradle. His father was a middle-class tenant farmer managing the
Obergut farm estate in Lenthe, a village around ten kilometers
west of Hanover. This is where Werner von Siemens was born on
December 13, 1816, the fourth child of the family. He was baptized
Ernst Werner Siemens; the “von” indicating nobility was conferred
on him only late in life. His parents, Christian Ferdinand Siemens
and Eleonore, née Deichmann, were not wealthy, but educated.
They raised their children lovingly and taught the bourgeois val-
ues of their era. Both came from families with a long history in
the middle class; for generations, his fathers’ ancestors had been
respected craftsmen, merchants and city councilors in the city of
Goslar.
Growing up among a large number of children left a lifelong
impression on the young Werner. His two surviving elder siblings,
Ludwig and Mathilde, were subsequently joined by three younger
brothers: Hans, Ferdinand and Wilhelm (who changed his name
to William in 1844). Two other children died in infancy. Werner
soon had to take responsibility for his younger brothers. The world
in which the Siemens children grew up consisted at fi rst of family
members, the farmstead, and the village. The Siemenses had an ex-
tensive network of relatives, with whom they communicated large-
ly by letter. There were no railroads yet; industrialization, which
2016
The house in Lenthe where Werner von Siemens was born is still stand-
ing today, a protected historical monument. A permanent exhibition about
the electrical pioneer’s life opened there to commemorate his th birthday.