Charles Proteus Steinmetz, authentic identify Karl August Rudolf Steinmetz, (born April 9, 1865, Breslau, Prussia—died Oct. 26, 1923, Schenectady, N.Y., U.S.), German-born American electrical engineer whose concepts on alternating present methods helped inaugurate {the electrical} period within the United States.
At delivery Steinmetz was stricken with a bodily deformity, hunchback, and as a youth he confirmed an uncommon functionality in arithmetic, physics, and classical literature. On graduating from the gymnasium with honours, he entered the University of Breslau in 1883. There he joined a scholar socialist membership, which was banned by the federal government after changing into affiliated with the German Social Democrats. When a few of his fellow celebration members had been arrested, Steinmetz took over the editorship of the celebration newspaper, “The People’s Voice.” One of the articles he wrote was thought-about inflammatory; the police started a crackdown on the paper, and Steinmetz needed to flee Breslau (1888). After a brief keep in Zürich he immigrated to the United States in 1889, touring by guidance. He quickly obtained a job with a small electrical agency owned by Rudolf Eickemeyer in Yonkers, N.Y. At about the identical time, Steinmetz Americanized his first identify to Charles and substituted Proteus, a college nickname, for his two center names.
Under the tutelage of his employer, Steinmetz grew to become more and more absorbed within the sensible points of electrical engineering. He established a small laboratory on the manufacturing unit, the place he did a lot of his scientific analysis. Steinmetz’ experiments on energy losses within the magnetic supplies utilized in electrical equipment led to his first necessary work, the regulation of hysteresis. This regulation offers with the facility loss that happens in all electrical gadgets when magnetic motion is transformed to unusable warmth. Until that point the facility losses in motors, turbines, transformers, and different electrically powered machines could possibly be recognized solely after they had been constructed. Once Steinmetz had discovered the regulation governing hysteresis loss, engineers might calculate and decrease losses of electrical energy on account of magnetism of their designs earlier than beginning the development of such machines.
In 1892 Steinmetz gave two papers earlier than the American Institute of Electrical Engineers on his new regulation regarding hysteresis loss. His work was instantly acknowledged as a traditional by the few who understood it, and the fixed he calculated for this loss has remained part of electrical engineering vocabulary. Thus, Steinmetz’ repute was assured on the age of 27.
His second contribution was a sensible methodology for making calculations regarding alternating present circuits. This methodology was an instance of utilizing mathematical aids for engineering the design of equipment and energy traces, in order that the efficiency of {the electrical} system could possibly be predicted prematurely with out the need of going via the costly and unsure technique of constructing the system first after which testing it for its effectivity. Steinmetz developed a symbolic methodology of calculating alternating-current phenomena and in so doing simplified an especially sophisticated and barely understood subject in order that the typical engineer might work with alternating present. This accomplishment was largely accountable for the speedy progress made within the industrial introduction of alternating-current equipment.
Steinmetz’ methodology of calculation was introduced to an uncomprehending viewers on the International Electrical Congress in 1893. His guide Theory and Calculation of Alternating Current Phenomena (coauthored with Ernst J. Berg in 1897) was learn and understood by solely a only a few. The downside that Steinmetz confronted was {that electrical} engineers weren't taught sufficient arithmetic to know his new mathematical remedy of issues utilizing advanced numbers. To educate {the electrical} engineering career, he revealed a number of textbooks, together with Engineering Mathematics (1911), and expanded his authentic 1897 guide into three separate volumes. Gradually, via his writing, lecturing, and instructing, his methodology of calculation with advanced numbers was universally adopted in work with alternating currents.
In 1893 the newly fashioned General Electric Company bought Eickemeyer’s firm, primarily for his patents, however Steinmetz was thought-about one among its main belongings. At General Electric, Steinmetz gained an expanded alternative for analysis and implementation of his concepts. He was assigned to the brand new calculating division, the primary job of which was to work on the corporate’s proposal for constructing the turbines on the new Niagara Falls energy station. In 1894 the General Electric Company transferred its operations to Schenectady, N.Y., and Steinmetz was made head of the calculating division. He without delay started to indoctrinate the engineers along with his methodology of calculating alternating-current circuits.
Steinmetz’ third main scientific achievement was within the examine and concept {of electrical} transients—that's, modifications in electrical circuits of very quick length. A first-rate instance of this phenomenon is lightning, and Steinmetz’ investigation of lightning phenomena resulted in his concept of touring waves and opened the best way for his growth of gadgets to guard high-power transmission traces from lightning bolts. In the course of this work he additionally designed a generator that produced a discharge of 10,000 amperes and greater than 100,000 volts, equal to an influence of greater than 1,000,000 horsepower for 1/100,000 of a second. This was his final main challenge on the General Electric Company, the place he had turn out to be head of the engineering consulting division.
In his later years Steinmetz additionally engaged in public affairs to a substantial diploma, serving as president of the Board of Education of Schenectady, N.Y., and as president of the town council. He served as president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1901–02.