August Wöhler

Who was August Wöhler?

August Wöhler was a German engineer, best remembered for his systematic investigations of metal fatigue.

Born in the town of Soltau, the son of local teacher Georg Heinrich Wöhler showed early mathematical ability and won a scholarship to study at the Technische Hochschule in Hannover, under the direction of Karl Karmarsch.

In 1840, he was recruited to the Borsig works in Berlin where he worked on the manufacture of rail tracks. In 1843, after a brief stay in Hannover, he started to receive instruction in locomotive driving in Belgium, returning as an engineer on the Hannover to Lehrte line. By 1847, Wöhler was chief superintendent of rolling stock on the Lower Silesia-Brandenberg Railroad. His growing reputation led to his appointment in 1852 by the Prussian minister of commerce to investigate the causes of fracture in railroad axles, work that was to occupy Wöhler over the next two decades.

The railroad was nationalised in 1854 and the recognition of his keen administration and technical leadership resulted in his appointment as director of the newly formed Imperial Railways*, based at the board's headquarters in Strasbourg, a post he held until his retirement in 1889.