Aurel Stodola Biography

Aurel Stodola was a Slovak engineer and inventor. He originated the study of thermodynamics and produced significant work in a number of scientific fields. He was a professor at the Institute of Technology in Zurich for nearly half of his lifetime and was consulted for input on developing the gas turbine. During his tenure, he educated and influenced hundreds of engineers, including some of the greatest scientific minds of our age. During the First World War, he came across a surgeon that he collaborated with to help the injured soldiers returning from war. In 1928, he invented the first heat pump which still serves as the primary source of heat generation for Geneva, Switzerland's city hall. As the father of steam turbines, he published a highly regarded manual that was eventually translated into several languages and is still used as a resource today. He constantly pursued new knowledge in a vast array of technical sciences, was given honorary doctorates by four universities, earned many awards and was an adviser to the Academy of Sciences in France. The Institute of Technology in Zurich declared 2009 the "Year of Aurel Stodola" and asteroid ‘3981 Stodola’ was named in his honor.