LAHMEYER

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

\

29.4.1818 Hannover/D - 9.8.1859 Hannover/D

\

Johann Wilhelm Lahmeyer graduated in 1836 from the Hannover Polytechnic which was founded in 1831. Due to financial reasons, he was unable to continue there and decided to become hydraulician. After visits to Göttingen and to Berlin, where he translated a mathematical work of Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768-1830) that was awarded by the Berlin University, he entered the State Service of Hannover County in 1842 to conduct hydraulic experiments following the French example. In 1850 Lahmeyer was involved in the harbor design of Freiburg at Lower Elbe River and from 1853 he contributed to the Canal of Handeln. Lahmeyer was later appointed inspector of hydraulic engineering at Neuhaus on Oste River, designed a navigation canal but in 1859 Lahmeyer turned seriously ill and passed away aged 41.

\

Lahmeyer's scientific work may be subdivided in three periods, namely translations mainly of French papers around 1840 that greatly added to the development of German technical sciences in the foundation era of Germany's higher technical education. Then, Lahmeyer's work on the flow in canals and rivers published in 1843 was noteworthy, in which he followed the French approach for an equation of uniform flow, which was criticized by colleagues such as Gustav von Wex (1811-1892) from Vienna and by Karl Rudolf Bornemann (1821-1897). This work attempted to define the vertical velocity profile of river flow as later investigated by Henry Bazin (1829-1917). From 1850 Lahmeyer published results relating to canal design, wastewater drainage from cities of Hannover County and the construction of the Emden harbor.

\

_{Anonymous (1859). Lahmeyer. Zeitschrift Architektenund Ingenieur-Verein Hannover 5: 502. Lahmeyer, J.W. (1844). Über die Stabilität der Erdbekleidung und deren Fundamente, by J.V. Poncelet. Meyer: Braunschweig.}

_{Lahmeyer, J.W. (1845). Erfahrungsresultate über die gleichförmige Bewegung des Wassers in Flüssen und Kanälen. Meyer: Braunschweig.}

_{Lahmeyer, J.W. (1857). Über die Weiten der Abwässerungsanstalten für die, der Ebbe und Fluth unterworfenen, bedeichten Marschen. Zeitschrift Architektenund Ingenieur-Verein Hannover 3: 270-276.}

_{Lahmeyer, J.W. (1859). Bemerkungen über die Bestimmung der Normalbreite von Flüssen. Zeitschrift Architektenund Ingenieur-Verein Hannover 5: 375-382.}

_{Rühlmann, M. (1883). Lahmeyer, J.W. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 17: 524-526.}