AHLFORS

FINLAND (see also List of Individuals)

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7.4.1874 Maarianhamina/FI - 22.5.1961 Helsinki/FI

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Karl Axel Ahlfors graduated as an engineer from the Finish Polytechnic Institute in 1896 and then moved for some years to the Swiss Polytechnic in Zurich, Switzerland, and to the Berlin Technical University, from where he returned to Finland in 1905. Ahlfors was appointed in 1908 professor of mechanical engineering at the renamed Technical University of Finland; he there also founded the laboratory of hydraulic machinery in 1923 and served as the University Rector in the years 1913 and 1916.

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Following his stays in Switzerland and in Germany, Ahlfors developed a constant contact with turbine and pump furnishers. As his colleagues in Central Europe, he was at the forefront of technical innovations and the furnishers profited from this relation between research and development, therefore. Ahlfors was also a consultant for several large hydro-electric schemes, including those of the city of Helsingfors, today's Helsinki, and of Stockholm in Sweden. Most of Ahlford's technical writings were published in the Finish engineering journal Technical Associations of Finland, founded in 1880 and continuing until today. His research concerned the optimized and economical design of turbines including their computation, and the design of pumps for large water discharges. A description of the hydraulic laboratory was given in 1934.

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_{Ahlfors, K.A. (1902). Modern turbinbyggnad. Tekniska Föreningens i Finland Förhandlingar}

_{22: 143-148.}

_{Ahlfors, K.A. (1904). Om ångturbiner. Tekniska Föreningens i Finland Förhandlingar 24(7): 181-190.}

_{Ahlfors, K.A. (1913). Bidrag till vattenturbinernas beräkning och konstruktion. Tekniska Föreningens i Finland Förhandlingar 33(1): 1-16; 33(2): 39-45.}

_{Ahlfors, K.A. (1916). Kugghjulskapselpumpen. Tekniska Föreningens i Finland Förhandlingar}

_{36(1): 1-7.}

_{Ahlfors, K.A. (1924). Om vattenturbineras sugrör. Tekniska Föreningens i Finland Förhandlingar 44(3): 51-61.}

_{Ahlfors, K.A. (1934). Tekniska högskolans vattenkraftlaboratorium. Tekniska Föreningens i Finland Förhandlingar 54(7): 214-220; 54(10): 250-253.}

_{Anonymous (1934). Prof. K. Axel Ahlfors 60 år. Tekniska Föreningens i Finland Förhandlingar}

_{54(4): 127. P}

_{Antin, K. (2006). Karl Axel Mauritz Ahlfors. Personal communication. Nat. Library: Helsinki.}