EHLERS

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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1.3.1854 Wolfenbüttel/D - 26.2.1934 Horn-Lippe/D

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Paul Ehlers graduated as a civil engineer from the Technical University of Braunschweig in 1880, after having initiated studies at Hannover Technical University. After having collaborated to a railway design he moved to the Alsace-Lorraine County, from 1871 a German possession after the Prussian-French war, as a hydraulic engineer. He was involved in the pre-design of the Strasburg-Ludwigshafen Canal, as a Regierungsbaumeister. In 1888 he was urged to redesign a river dike that had broken under an ice flow. Following a successful repair, Ehlers continued from 1889 to 1904 at the Oder River Service, where he was posted as director in Crossen. He thus developed into a specialist in questions relating to river engineering and practiced knowledge at a large river. He established a gauging system along the river, erected a number of rainfall meters and a service for flood alarm. In addition he improved the navigation characteristics during low discharge conditions and the dike quality along difficult river reaches. He was elected Royal Engineer in 1904.

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Ehlers was appointed in 1904 first professor of hydraulic engineering at the newly founded Technical University of Danzig, today's Gdańsk in Poland. His research directed to an improvement of the canals in Eastern Germany, and was mainly based on practical methods to be applied for a correct and economical engineering design. In parallel he was also involved in the design and the execution of various hydropower works. Ehlers was awarded the honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Braunschweig in 1923.

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_{Anonymous (1934). Paul Ehlers. Wasserkraft und Wasserwirtschaft 29(7): 84.}

_{Ehlers, P. (1912). Der Ostkanal: Ein Wirtschaftskanal von der Weichsel nach den Masurischen Seen. Ernst: Berlin.}

_{Ehlers, P. (1913). Die Entwicklung der Wasserwirtschaft in Preussen während der bisherigen Regierungszeit Wilhelm II. Kafeman: Danzig.}

_{Ehlers, P. (1913). Regulierung geschiebeführender Flüsse, insbesondere der Weichsel. Ernst: Berlin.}

_{Ehlers, P. (1914). Bau, Unterhaltung und Verteidigung der Flussdeiche. Ernst: Berlin. 3rd ed. by Richard Winkel in 1950.}

_{Schönsee, O. (1924). 50 Jahre Oderstrombauverwaltung 1874-1924. Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung 44(44): 377-379.}

_{Schulze, O. (1924). Paul Ehlers. Die Bautechnik 2(9): 65. P}