PERELS

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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9.7.1837 Berlin/D - 4.9.1893 Niederdorf/A

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Emil Perels graduated from the Berlin Technical University as a mechanical engineer in 1859. As a student he had been fascinated of the steam machine and realized its urgent need for agricultural purposes. He thus founded in 1863 a workshop for designing such machinery, which had to close two years later, however. Perels lectured then at Berlin Agricultural School and submitted in 1866 a habilitation thesis, which was the basis of the 1866 book. He was an official visitor of the 1867 World Exhibition in Paris and reported extensively on developments in agricultural engineering. During the same year, Perels moved to the University of Halle where he lectured in agricultural machines. There he was promoted to associate professor in 1871 and two years later was appointed professor of melioration engineering at Hochschule für Bodenkultur in Vienna. He there was elected rector for the years 1880 and 1886. He was richly awarded for his outstanding contributions to engineering such as with Prussia's Crown-Order. Perels passed away during holidays.

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Perels true career as an agricultural engineer started once he had moved to Vienna. He founded the Perels Institute where he proposed an agricultural test site and collected agricultural machinery for educational purposes. In 1877, Perels presented his Handbook of agricultural hydraulics, one of the first in German. This work was described as a climax of irrigation and drainage techniques. It includes the following main chapters: (1) General, (2) Hydraulic structures, (3) Drainage, (4) Irrigation. The book has almost 700 pages illustrated with 341 figures and with four plates.

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_{Anonymous (1893). Prof. Dr. Emil Perels. Wiener Landwirtschaftliche Zeitung 22(71): 586-}

_{587. P}

_{Anonymous (1893). Prof. Emil Perels. Der Bautechniker 13(36): 660.}

_{Kar, J. (1972). Das Institut für Wasserwirtschaft an der Hochschule für Bodenkultur in Wien. Österreichische Wasserwirtschaft 24(9/10): 166-169. P}

_{Perels, E. (1866). Handbuch zur Anlage und Konstruktion landwirtschaftlicher Maschinen und Geräte. Jena.}

_{Perels, E. (1867). Die landwirtschaftlichen Maschinen und Geräte auf der Weltausstellung zu Paris 1867. Berlin.}

_{Perels, E. (1877). Handbuch des landwirtschaftlichen Wasserbaues. Wiegandt, Hempel & Parey: Berlin.}

_{Perels, E. (1889). Abhandlungen über Kulturtechnik. Costenoble: Jena.}