Magnus W. Alexander

Who was Magnus W. Alexander?

Magnus W. Alexander was a German-born American electrical engineer and a technical designer for the General Electric Company and the Westinghouse Electric Company. He also became a social reformer in the United States of America by working on state boards and commissions in such areas as workmen's compensation and retirement benefits.

Alexander was the son of Alexander M. and M. A. Alexander. He studied mechanics, metallurgy, and electrical engineering at the Austrian universities of Vienna, 1889, the Leoben, 1891, and the University of Gratz, 1892.

Following the completion of his engineering education, Alexander was employed by Austria's largest steel-making company. In 1893, he joined Weston Electrical Instrument Company as an engineer and a technical designer. In the following year, he was recruited by Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., and he emigrated to the United States. After five years with the Westinghouse Corp., he joined the Siemens and Halske Electric Co., a German corporation with operations in North America. In the year 1900, the General Electric Company hired him as its chief engineer in charge of design, which was a position that he held until 1918. Thereafter, he served as GE's consulting engineer on economic issues until 1922.