Karl-Eugen Kurrer
Biografia
Karl-Eugen Kurrer was born in Heilbronn, Germany, in 1952. After graduating from Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences with a general civil engineering degree in 1973, he worked as a structural timber engineer for Losberger GmbH in Heilbronn.
He then returned to university to study civil engineering and physical engineering sciences at Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), the city's science and technology university. As a tutor in the theory of structures department at TU Berlin between 1977 and 1981, one of Karl-Eugen Kurrer's most important teaching and learning experiences was grasping the basic principles of structural analysis from the historical point of view. The intention of his handwritten introductory lectures on the history of each method of structural analysis was to help students understand that theory of structures, too, is the outcome of a socio-historical everyday process in which they themselves play a part and, in the end, help to shape. Another goal was to create a deeper sense of the motivation for and enjoyment of the learning of structural analysis. It was crucial to overcome the formula-type acquisition of the subject matter by introducing a didactic approach to the fundamentals of structural theory through their historical appreciation. By 1998 this had evolved into a plea for a historico-genetic approach to the teaching of theory of structures.
It was in 1981 that he completed his dissertation Entwicklung der Gewölbetheorie vom 19. Jahrhundert bis zum heutigen Stand der Wissenschaft am Beispiel der Berechnung einer Bogenbrücke (On the development of vault theory from the 19th century to today using the example of structural calculations for a single-arch bridge). Since 1980 his many articles on the history of science and technology in general and construction history in particular have appeared in journals, newspapers, books and exhibition publications.
Karl-Eugen Kurrer completed his PhD, On the internal kinematic and kinetic of tube vibratory mills,with the highest level of distinction, summa cum laude, at TU Berlin in 1986 and went on to carry out externally funded research on energy efficiency in industry. He contributed to the development of a new eccentric vibratory mill that uses 50 % less energy than comparable models. After 1995 the design successfully established itself on the international machine market. Dr. Kurrer summarized the research results from his work at the interface between mechanical process engineering, machine dynamics and raw materials engineering in volumes No. 124 and 282 of VDI progress reports, series 3: process engineering and in numerous presentations and journal publications at home and abroad, e.g. Eccentric vibrator mills - theory and practice, published in Powder technology 105 (1999), pp. 302-310.
Between 1989 and 1995 Dr. Kurrer was employed at Telefunken Sendertechnik GmbH in Berlin as a developer of structural systems for large long-, medium- and short-wave aerial systems. He worked on the further development of the in-house program suite for the calculation, dimensioning and design of cable networks for short-wave aerials according to third-order theory. He contributed to the design of a rotating steel short-wave curtain aerial, a paper on which was published in 1996 under the title Rotatable shortwave curtain antenna operable at very high wind speeds in the journal IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 42, No. 1, March 1996, pp. 50-54. The aerial was built for the first time three years later as part of a large project.
For more than 35 years, Karl-Eugen Kurrer has carried out research on the subject of construction history with a special emphasis on structural theory. Since 1992 he has been involved in the conference series entitled Between Mechanics and Architecture which was established by Patricia Radelet-de Grave and Edoardo Benvenuto.
Since 1996 Dr. Kurrer has been Chair of the Working Group on the History of technology at VDI (Association of German Engineers) in Berlin and chief editor of Stahlbau (steel construction), and since 2008 Steel Construction - Design and Research, too. Both journals are published by Ernst & Sohn (a Wiley brand). In his capacity as Chairman of the History of technology Working Group, Dr. Kurrer organizes, together with Prof. Werner Lorenz (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus), eight lectures on construction history every year for the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin.
Dr. Kurrer was chairman of the scientific committee of the 3rd International Congress on Construction History (20-24 May 2009, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany). He held one of the keynote lectures at the 12th International Conference on Metal Structures (15-17June 2011, Wroc³aw University of Technology, Poland).
The focal point of Dr. Kurrer's contribution to construction history is the historiography of structural theory in a history of science dimension, with practical engineering and didactic intentions and in its cultural context. Closely related to this is his concept for establishing a "historical engineering science".
He has published more than 150 papers and several monographs, e.g. Geschichte der Baustatik (2002, 540pp.) and the expanded English companion The History of the Theory of Structures. From Arch Analysis to Computational Mechanics (2008, 848pp.). One of his latest publications is the paper Wissenschaft in praktischer Absicht. Die Tragwerkslehre als induktive Grundlagendisziplin (science with a practical purpose - structural engineering studies as an inductive fundamental discipline) in the journal Bautechnik, vol. 91, No. 1, January 2014, pp. 58-62. Currently, Dr. Kurrer is preparing the second, considerably enlarged, edition of his Geschichte der Baustatik.
Bibliografia
Laudatio
Opere
Kurrer, K.-E.: Zur Vorgeschichte der Computerstatik. In: Festschriften zum 20-jährigen Jubiläum der Friedrich+Lochner GmbH. Software für Baustatik und Tragwerksplanung, J. Friedrich (Hrsg.), S.5-18. Eigenverlag 1998.
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Kurrer, K.-E.: Plädoyer für eine historisch-genetische Statiklehre. Thesen zur ganzheitlichen Statiklehre für Architekten und Bauingenieure. In: Baukultur 2/1999, S. 32-35.
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Kurrer, K.-E.: Baustatik und Ästhetik. Von der Möglichkeit des Ästhetischen beim statischen Rechnen. In: Baukultur 3/2000, S. 38-45.
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Kurrer, K.-E.: Baustatik in Berlin. Zum 150. Geburtstag von Heinrich Müller-Breslau. In: FRILO-Magazin 1/2001, S. 41-53.
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Kurrer, K.-E.: Max Mengeringhausen: Ein Komponist von Raumfachwerken. In: db deutsche bauzeitung 138(2004), Issue 10, pp. 88-95.
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Kurrer, K.-E.: John Wiley & Sons, Wiley-VCH and Ernst & Sohn. A successful civil and structural engineering literature family saga, Stahlbau 76, 2007, S.1-5.
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Kurrer, K.-E.: The Tasks & Aims of a History of Theory of Structures, iacm expressions 24/2009,pp. 8-13.
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Karl-Eugen Kurrer, Wissenschaft in praktischer Absicht, in: Bautechnik 91, 2014, H. 1, S. 58-69.
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