engineering

Gustav Wittfeld

Gustav Wittfeld is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gustav Wittfeld rather than just read about it. In short: Gustav Wittfeld (27 October 1855 – 24 September 1923) was a German engineer. Life Gustav Wittfeld was born in Aachen, Germany, on 27 October 1855.

Key takeaways

Gustav Wittfeld belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gustav Wittfeld to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gustav Wittfeld from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gustav Wittfeld (27 October 1855 – 24 September 1923) was a German engineer.

Life Gustav Wittfeld was born in Aachen, Germany, on 27 October 1855. After attending state school he studied at the polytechnic in Aachen from 1874 to 1878. Following that the young engineer joined the Prussian state railways. He spent his early years in the railway divisions of Bromberg, Cassel, Frankfurt am Main, Cologne and Berlin. He was promoted to government master builder (Regierungsbaumeister) in 1884 and was involved in the construction of Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof. After transferring to the Berlin railway division in 1891 he again joined the department for the construction and procurement of locomotives within the Prussian state railways. He played a major part in the committee set up for Prussian locomotive construction standards. In 1902, at the instigation of Wittfeld, the Prussian railway administration and AEG began trials with single-phase alternating current for use as a source of traction. The testing lasted until 1906 and took place on the 4.1 km long suburban route from Niederschöneweide to Spindlersfeld (near Berlin) using 6 kV 25 Hz AC. This technology was used initially when the Hamburg-Altona City and Suburban Railway was electrified, a venture in which Wittfeld was also involved. Wittfeld was the first to recorgnise the importance of single-phase AC for electric traction and was a driving force behind the electrification of the first standard gauge railway in Germany from Dessau to Bitterfeld opened on 1 April 1911. In 1904, with Wittfeld's involvement, two 2'B2'n3v - experimental steam locomotives emerged: "Altona 561 and Altona 562" with streamlining and a cab at the front. After these proved a failure due to the cost of the trial, Gustav Wittfeld turned increasingly to electric traction and designed the Prussian Class ES, EP and EG electric locomotives. Even today the design of the Class AT 3 accumulator cars (later DRG Class ETA 178) is associated with the name of Wittfeld. They were still in service until the early 1960s. These designs and his perseverance earned Wittfeld the reputation of being a trailblazer in the field of electric train transportation. In 1917 he became an honorary Doctor of Engineering at the TH Charlottenburg for his work on the electrification of the railways. In 1918 he was promoted to Wirklicher Geheimer Oberbaurat and retired in 1920. As his successor he appointed Wilhelm Wechmann, later to become Chief Electrical Engineer of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. On 24 September 1923, plagued from ill-health, Wittfeld committed suicide.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gustav Wittfeld

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gustav Wittfeld claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gustav Wittfeld before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gustav Wittfeld ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gustav Wittfeld

In research: Gustav Wittfeld appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gustav Wittfeld in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gustav Wittfeld is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1855 births, 1923 deaths, 1923 suicides, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gustav Wittfeld outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gustav Wittfeld in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gustav Wittfeld means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gustav Wittfeld out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gustav Wittfeld in simple terms?

Gustav Wittfeld (27 October 1855 – 24 September 1923) was a German engineer. Life Gustav Wittfeld was born in Aachen, Germany, on 27 October 1855.

Why does Gustav Wittfeld matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gustav Wittfeld?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gustav Wittfeld.