BECHER

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

\

18.11.1876 Boston/USA - 29.4.1948 Ellwangen/D

\

Theodor Becher joined MAN works in Gustavsburg after having graduated as a civil engineer at Darmstadt University in 1899. There, he was associated with Max Carstanjen (1856-1934) in the development of the drum gate, then a novel design first installed in Schweinfurt in 1902. Becher then turned to experimental hydraulics as an associate of Alexander Koch (1852-1923), the hydraulics professor at Darmstadt University where a hydraulic laboratory had been set up around 1900. Following this successful collaboration, Becher was awarded the honorary doctorate from this university in 1929.

\

Becher may be considered the father of steel engineering in hydraulics. Following the collaboration with Carstanjen, he developed MAN works to one of the European centers of this engineering branch, of which Hugo Kulka (1883-1933) or Fritz Hartung (1911-1998) may be considered successors. Once the roller gate had been fully developed, Becher continued works with radial gates, today an indispensable control element of most hydraulic structures. Another successful design developed at MAN relates to flap gates. In the latter two designs, vibrations due to a slight underpressure below the water jet may become a serious concern. MAN collaborated with hydraulic laboratories to remove such dangerous phenomena. Gate vibrations are currently removed by the addition of gate splitters, a design developed mainly be MAN in the 1930s.

\

_{Becher, T. (1910). Das Walzenwehr im Neckar. Deutsche Bauzeitung 44(9): 53-55; 44(10): 61-62.}

_{Becher, T. (1925). Neuere Eisenwasserbauten im Wehrbau. Bauingenieur 6: 723-728; 6: 753-760.}

_{Becher, T. (1929). Hochschulnachrichten. Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung 49(31): 505. Dantscher, K. (1936). Dr.-Ing. E.h. Theodor Becher zum 60. Geburtstag. Wasserkraft und Wasserwirtschaft 31(23): 303-304.}

_{Fischer, H. (1938). Die Schwingungen an überströmten Wehren und ihre Beseitigung. Zeitschrift VDI 82(1): 27-28.}

_{Ludin, A. (1937). Theodor Becher 60 Jahre alt. Deutsche Wasserwirtschaft 32(1): 20.}

_{Mueller, H. (1937). Beitrag zur Erforschung der Schwingungserscheinungen an überströmten Wehren. Wasserkraft und Wasserwirtschaft 32(6): 61-64.}

_{Petrikat, K. (1941). Beitrag zur Untersuchung der Schwingungsanfachung an überströmten Wehren. Deutsche Wasserwirtschaft 36(8): 395-404.}

_{Poggendorff, J.C. (1953). Becher, Theodor. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch}

_{7a: 112. Akademie-Verlag: Berlin, with bibliography.}

_{Schmitt, H. (1953). Becher. Neue Deutsche Biographie 1: 691. Duncker&Humblot: Berlin.}