engineering

Hanns Hörbiger

Hanns Hörbiger 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 Hanns Hörbiger rather than just read about it. In short: Johannes "Hanns" Evangelist Hörbiger (29 November 1860 – 11 October 1931) was an Austrian engineer from Vienna with roots in Tyrol. He took part in the construction of the Budapest subway and in 1894 invented a new type of valve essential for compressors still in widespread use today.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Johannes "Hanns" Evangelist Hörbiger (29 November 1860 – 11 October 1931) was an Austrian engineer from Vienna with roots in Tyrol. He took part in the construction of the Budapest subway and in 1894 invented a new type of valve essential for compressors still in widespread use today. He is also remembered today for his pseudoscientific Welteislehre ("World Ice doctrine").

Early life Hanns Hörbiger was born in Atzgersdorf, a suburb of Liesing, Vienna, and studied engineering at the local Technical College. In 1894 Hörbiger had an idea for a new design of blast furnace blowing engine: he replaced the old and easily damaged leather flap valves with a steel valve. Opening and closing automatically, and light and frictionless guided, the disk valve eliminated all the drawbacks of previous valve designs. Hörbiger registered a patent for his invention, which smoothed the way for efficient steel production and greater productivity in mining. High-pressure chemistry and the global network of gas exchange – none of these would be possible without the Hörbiger Valve. In 1900, Hanns Hörbiger and the engineer Friedrich Wilhelm Rogler founded an engineer’s office in Budapest, which was moved to Vienna in 1903. By 1925 it had developed into the Hörbiger & Co. company. Alfred Hörbiger, one of Hörbiger’s sons, joined the company in 1925 and assumed the management, while Hanns Hörbiger devoted himself to scientific study until his death in 1931. Two other sons, Attila and Paul became actors. The company developed rapidly under Alfred Hörbiger’s management: a production facility was taken into service in Vienna and an affiliated company was set up in Düsseldorf. Hörbiger expanded into England and concluded numerous licensing agreements with leading manufacturers of piston blowers, compressors and ships’ Diesel engines in Europe and North America. The disk valve became more sophisticated: Hörbiger developed highlift or high-pressure valves, compressor control systems and damper plates. By 1937, 98% of production was destined for export. The name Hörbiger had become a dependable trademark in valve and control technology for compressors. As of 2017, the engineering company founded by Hanns Hörbiger still exists as Hoerbiger and is a major supplier of compression technology.

Welteislehre

Hörbiger is nowadays chiefly remembered for his Welteislehre ("World Ice Doctrine"), which he first put forward in the 1913 book, Wirbelstürme, Wetterstürze, Hagelkatastrophen und Marskanal-Verdoppelungen, written in collaboration with amateur astronomer Philipp Fauth. According to this theory, ice comprised most of the matter of the universe. Hörbiger's theories were later popularized by H.S. Bellamy, and influenced Hans Robert Scultetus, head of the Pflegestätte für Wetterkunde (Meteorology Section) of the SS-Ahnenerbe, who believed that Welteislehre could be used to provide accurate long-range weather forecasts.

Occidental

Hörbiger was an early supporter and financial backer of the planned language Occidental, now officially known as Interlingue. His financial support was instrumental in allowing Occidental's main publication Cosmoglotta to "gain a circle of readers despite the economic crisis" during the period when its redactorial office was located in Vienna. His sons Hans Robert Hörbiger and Alfred also contributed to Cosmoglotta and were Occidentalists.

Family Two of Hörbiger's sons, Paul and Attila, were matinée idols in the interwar years, and Paul Hörbiger's granddaughter Mavie Hörbiger also went on to become a celebrated actress. His two other sons devoted themselves to promoting their father's theory. Best known of the present Hörbiger generations is Attila's daughter Christiane.

Honors The Deslandres crater on the Moon was designated Hörbiger by Philipp Fauth on his private lunar chart; it subsequently received the official name of Deslandres, following a 1942 suggestion by E. M. Antoniadi in 1942, which was approved at the International Astronomical Union's 1948 General Assembly. The name Hörbiger is still seen on the Hallwag moonmap made by Hans Schwarzenbach. There exists a stamp depicting him.

References

External links Media related to Hanns Hörbiger at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hanns Hörbiger

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hanns Hörbiger 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 Hanns Hörbiger 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 Hanns Hörbiger 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 Hanns Hörbiger

In research: Hanns Hörbiger 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 Hanns Hörbiger 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: Hanns Hörbiger is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1860 births, 1931 deaths, Austrian cosmologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hanns Hörbiger 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 Hanns Hörbiger in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hanns Hörbiger 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 Hanns Hörbiger out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hanns Hörbiger in simple terms?

Why does Hanns Hörbiger 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 Hanns Hörbiger?

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 Hanns Hörbiger.