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The History of the Department
Just how important these independent assessment
reports were for new developments was reflected in the
story of Rudolf Diesel. When Diesel presented his engine,
the innovative potential of his invention was confirmed by
several professors – Schröter, Linde and Zeuner. Although
Diesel’s thermodynamic predictions were incorrect, he
received sufficient support for his invention from the
industrial sector. This can be traced back in part to the
major influence of the assessment report. In this report,
for example, Carl von Linde emphasised that: ‘[I] can
only confirm my view already expressed verbally to you,
that the path you have taken is taking you directly and
accurately to your goal of achieving the fuel consumption
required for mechanical work which according to our
current knowledge of physics and taking into account
the current state of mechanical engineering should be
regarded as the most ideally suitable.’ However, Carl von
Linde noted that the calculations made by Diesel were
too optimistic, and that, in the best scenario, a third of the
value of the theoretical degree of efficiency calculated by
him could be achieved.
2018
Sample Contracts and Acquired Freedom
Five professors – five positions on the issue of industrial
research versus scientific independence, commonalities
and differences.
The five professors consider the issue from different per-
spectives, with a view to the entire department, and with
a focus on their own professorial chair. They all regard
themselves as being free and uninfluenced by the indus-
trial sector. With regard to their own professorial chairs,
they stress that the origin of the questions initially plays no
role; it is important that questions are being asked of the
respective field of specialism at all. They claim that com-
Testing facility for diesel motors at the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg, around 1899
We don’t have to accept
everything that the industrial
sector offers us. That’s a
very positive situation here in
the department.
Prof. Werner