Werner von Siemens – the exciting life of an electrical pioneer
Werner von Siemens’ life story is filled with pioneering inventions, courageous decisions and exciting experiences – and not so different from the career of one of today’s startup entrepreneurs. Enter the world of this visionary entrepreneur and company founder and find out how a young man without much money built a global corporation out of nothing, solely on the basis of good ideas, firm principles, persistence and endurance.Werner’s youth and study
Werner von Siemens’ life didn’t always take the most direct route, and he saw a number of highs and lows, both privately and professionally. The pattern already began in his youth. When his parents could not afford the high tuition for the architectural academy, he abruptly decided to join the Prussian army, in the hopes of getting his scientific training there. He shunned no endeavor or effort to pass the difficult examination for acceptance as an artillery officer.Business flourished, and Siemens & Halske now also began laying telegraph cable in the Mediterranean. Werner von Siemens’ taste for adventure always kept him in the forefront of all new endeavors and repeatedly led him into curious and even dangerous situations: from “doing magic” on an Egyptian Pyramid to being shipwrecked on a desert island. That was too much excitement for his partner Johann Georg Halske; Halske found the submarine cable business too risky and withdrew from Siemens & Halske’s English branch.