Identifer: CJF-RFC2015403

Medium
Bronze

Description
Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923)
Eminent Scientist and Elictrical Engineer, holder of over 200 patents.  Known for his work at General Electric.  Born in Breslau, German.  Attended the University of Breslau where he joined the Socialist Club because he thought the humble of the world should share the world’s riches. Because of Socialism’s unpopularity with German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Steinmetz had to flee Germany for Switzerland and later came to the United States in 1889.  In 1902 became professor of Electrophysics at Union College in Schenectaty. 
Charles P. Steinmetz was considered the leading electrical engineer in the United States. and at the age of thirty–seven was elected president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. In 1901 Harvard University conferred on him an Honorary Degree, and in 1903 Union College awarded him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
In 1977 Steinmetz was inducted into the United States Patent Office’s National Inventor’s Hall of Fame. The three accomplishments that gained him honor were listed as 1) Law of Hysteresis; 2) Formula for Alternating Current, and 3) Theory of Electrical Transients.  In 1983 the United States Post office issued a postage stamp in his honor.  Charles P. Steinmetz once remarked, “I want to say that absolutely all the success I have had has been due to my thorough study of mathematics.”  When Steinmetz died on October 26, 1923 Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York is quoted as saying, “He always wanted to help everybody.”