Wvs satz final indd

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Werner von Siemens immediately realized the importance of 

his invention. Before the year was out, in December 1866, he invit-

ed Berlin’s leading physicists to attend a demonstration at the 

Markgrafenstraße plant. Gustav Magnus, one of Germany’s most 

famous physicists, announced the invention to the Prussian Acad-

emy of Sciences on January 17, 1867. He read out a description au-

thored by Werner von Siemens, which ended with a far-sighted 

recognition:

A short time later, British inventors Charles Wheatstone and 

Samuel Alfred Varley also announced that they had succeeded in 

building a dynamo machine, but only Werner von Siemens was 

able to develop the device to maturity for production. The busy 

entrepreneur assigned the necessary work for the development 

to the chief designer at Siemens & Halske, Friedrich von Hefner- 

Alteneck. By the end of 1875, the moment had come. This was the 

beginning of a new era in the history of electrical engineering, 

which had hitherto been dedicated primarily to telegraphy and 

cable technology. Werner von Siemens himself coined the term 

“electrical engineering” at the time, in a memorandum for the 

founding of the Elektrotechnischer Verein (Electrical Engineering 

Association).

43

The dynamo machine could power only individual lights at 

first. Further developments were needed before entire lighting 

systems could be built. Only after Russian engineer Pavel Yab-

lochkov invented electrical candles in 1876, and Friedrich von 

Hefner-Alteneck invented the differential arc lamp two years later, 

“By means of the method employed, electric currents can be 

produced in a cheap and simple manner, wherever mechanical 

agency is available. This circumstance will be of considerable 

importance in many departments of the arts.” 

42

 

did it become possible to light whole buildings and streets. On 

March 1, 1879, the Siemens villa in Charlottenburg became the 

first private residence in Germany to be lighted with electricity. 

Werner von Siemens invited some 250 guests to a great ball to 

celebrate the occasion. Two days later, he reported to his brother 

William: “The electric lighting proved itself superbly. […] But the 

most important thing was that the temperature remained pleas-

ant to the very end (2:30 a.m.), while with gaslight we used to 

have to ventilate the room every half hour.”

44

 Because of its high 

cost, however, electric light was no alternative to gaslight yet. 

A few weeks later, Siemens & Halske aroused a great deal of 

public attention with the fi rst electric railway, at the Berliner 

Gewerbeausstellung (Berlin Commercial Exposition). Werner von 

Siemens was now pursuing the goal of building an elevated rail-

way along Friedrichstraße in the center of Berlin. Like many ex-

perts, he considered it impossible to build an underground rail-

Dynamo machine (replica), 1866

1884  

The fi rst German electrical power plant is built in Berlin. In those days, 

power plants were called centrals. 

1882  

In Berlin, Siemens & Halske installs the fi rst street lighting to use 

electric arc lamps. 

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way because of the capital city’s high water table. But after pro-

tests from those living along the route, Kaiser Wilhelm I squelched 

the elevated railway project. Instead, Siemens & Halske now built 

a ground-level railway in the residential suburb of Lichterfelde – 

the world’s fi rst electric streetcar system. It was festively opened 

on May 12, 1881. Werner’s elevated railway projects in other cities 

also failed to materialize. For the time being, the electrifi cation of 

transportation remained limited to electric streetcars and region-

al railroads.

The patriarch and his principles

When American inventor Thomas Alva Edison revolutionized elec-

trical engineering by introducing the carbon-fi ber incandescent 

lamp (1879) and building the fi rst electric power grid (1882), Wer-

ner von Siemens was unimpressed at fi rst. To him, Edison seemed 

a mere “American ‘go-ahead’ inventor”, looking for quick mon-

ey.

45

 He later changed his mind, and a personal friendship evolved 

between the two inventors. Nonetheless, Edison’s business model 

of building and operating power plants with stock companies was 

incompatible with Werner von Siemens’ business principles. “We 

are not lighting entrepreneurs, but manufacturers!” he wrote to 

his brother Carl as early as 1878.

46

 All the same, Werner had to come 

to terms with Edison’s European holding company in order not to 

abandon incandescent lamp manufacturing and the power plant 

business to the competition. In 1883, Siemens & Halske invested 

in Berlin engineer Emil Rathenau’s founding of the Deutsche Edi-

son-Gesellschaft, and four years later it invested in that compa-

ny’s successor, Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (

AEG

). 

AEG

 

quickly became a mighty competitor of Siemens & Halske. As a 

stock company, with the support of Georg von Siemens and Deut-

sche Bank, it was able to raise the large capital investments need-

ed to build power plants and grids. Before the century was out, 

AEG’s

 revenues were outpacing those of Siemens & Halske.

47

 

Werner von Siemens could have prevented the sharp rise of 

AEG

 if he had not held fi rm to outmoded principles.

48

 His brother 

Carl urged him to convert Siemens & Halske into a stock corpora-

The first electric streetcar in 

Lichterfelde, 1881

1890  

The world’s fi rst electrical subway (underground) is running in London. 

The fi rst subway built by Siemens & Halske will go into operation in Budapest 

in .

1880s  

Siemens has been the unchallenged market leader in electrical 

engineering in Germany for decades. But now new companies are thronging 

into the market. AEG arises as a strong competitor against Siemens.

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