Aurel Stodola

In March of 1924, Stodola set up a fund for Zurich Institute of Technology. As of 2002, the account had risen to two million francs (over two million dollars). The money is used to finance research and education at his alma mater.

In the 1930s, he sought donations to help fund the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Gabon, Africa. The hospital's research division is the current leader in finding a cure for malaria.

Aurel Stodola was born on May 10, 1859 in Liptovsky Mikulas, Austria, to Andreas Stodola, a leather manufacturer, and Anna Kovac. His two brothers, Kornel and Emil, would later become successful politicians.

He went to secondary school in Levoca before graduating from a government school in Kosice.

He attended several educational institutions between the years of 1876 and 1880, including the Budapest Technical University and the University of Zurich, before earning a degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering.

His first technical experience came under the employment of the Hungarian State Railway.

During 1883 he helped rebuild his father’s tannery which had been destroyed in a fire.

From 1884 to 1892, he designed steam and water turbines and compressors for Ruston and Company in Prague.

To further his education, Stodola attended the Charlottenburg Technical University and Paris’ Sorbonne.

He began teaching in 1892 as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and design. He was soon promoted to a full professorship, a position which he held until his retirement in 1929.

He first published his most crucial work, Steam and Gas Turbines, in 1903. He would add and revise the manuscript repeatedly. The first edition numbered 220 pages but by the time it had reached the fifth edition, it numbered over 1,100 pages.

In 1931, he published ‘Thoughts on a Worldview from an Engineering Standpoint’, a commentary on scientific social responsibility.