Wilhelm Cauer

Who was Wilhelm Cauer?

Wilhelm Cauer was a German mathematician and scientist. He is most noted for his work on the analysis and synthesis of electrical filters and his work marked the beginning of the field of network synthesis. Prior to his work, electronic filter design used techniques which accurately predicted filter behaviour only under unrealistic conditions. This required a certain amount of experience on the part of the designer to choose suitable sections to include in the design. Cauer placed the field on a firm mathematical footing, providing tools that could produce exact solutions to a given specification for the design of an electronic filter.

Cauer initially specialised in general relativity but soon switched to electrical engineering. His work for a German subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company brought him into contact with leading American engineers in the field of filters. This proved useful when Cauer was unable to feed his children during the German economic crisis of the 1920s and he moved to the US. He studied early computer techniques in the US prior to returning to Germany. The rise of Nazism in Germany stifled Cauer's career because he had a remote Jewish ancestor. Cauer was shot dead during the fall of Berlin by Soviet soldiers.