Notes:

Charles Proteus Steinmetz never married. Leroy Hayden was a lab assistant to Steinmetz and a friend. Steinmetz adopted Hayden and made him his heir. While there was a father/son relationship between the two men, they were not biologically related.

Joseph married UNKNOWN, Wife. Wife was born about 1890. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Following the Gymnasium, Steinmetz went on to the University of Breslau to begin work on his undergraduate degree in 1883. He was on the verge of finishing his doctorate in 1888 when he came under investigation by the German police for activities on behalf of a socialist university group and articles he had written for a local socialist newspaper. As socialist meetings and press had been banned in Germany, Steinmetz fled to Zürich in 1888 to escape possible arrest. Faced with an expiring visa, he emigrated to the United States in 1889. He changed his first name to Charles in order to sound more American and chose the middle name Proteus after a childhood taunt given to him by classmates. Proteus was a wise hunchbacked character from the Odyssey who knew many secrets and he felt it suited him.

Cornell University Professor Ronald R. Kline, the author of Steinmetz: Engineer and Socialist, contended that other factors were more directly involved in Steinmetz's decision to leave his homeland, such as the fact that he was in arrears with his tuition at the University of Breslau and that life at home with his father, stepmother, and their daughters was full of tension.

August Rudolf Steinmetz, studied in Breslau, Zurich and Berlin. In 1889, because of political problems, Steinmetz emigrated to the United States, settling in New York state. In 1893 he went to work for General Electric in Schenectady, where he would spend the rest of his life. He became a professor of electrical engineering at that city's Union College in 1902. By the end of his life, the mathematical genius had some 200 patents in his name, most related to improvements in electrical generators and equipment. Steinmetz also authored textbooks and many scientific papers. He himself considered his three most important accomplishments to be: (1) his work in the field of electromagnetism (Theorie der magnetischen Hysterse), (2) the development of a practical, simplified method of managing and calculating values for alternating current (Wechselstrom) using complex numbers, and (3) his research on lightning phenomena. Steinmetz also invented the three-phase electrical circuit (Dreileitersystem/Drehstrom).

**************************************

Below is a first person narrative of Charles Proteus Steinmetz, written as if it was spoken by the inventor himself:

My name is Charles Proteus Steinmetz. My original name was Carl August Rudolph Steinmetz. My father's name was Carl Heinrich Steinmetz. My hobbies were trick photography, bicycling, and canoeing.
I was born on April 9, 1865 in Breslau, Germany. In 1883 I entered the University of Breslau. I wrote an outspoken editorial criticizing the government in 1888 just before receiving a Ph.D. from Breslau. I was forced to flee the country to escape arrest. I traveled to Zurich after fleeing Germany.

In 1889 I arrived in the United States. In 1892 I read two papers about alternating current before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. I joined the newly organized General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York in 1893.

In the 1890's, over a 25-year period, I studied alternating current. Alternating current, abbreviated 'AC', is an electrical current used in almost all homes and buildings. AC regularly reverses its direction of flow. Every time it completes two changes of direction it goes through one cycle. The number of cycles per second is called the frequency of the AC. Frequency is measured in hertz. Almost all local power companies in the United States and Canada supply AC with a frequency of 60 hertz. Many frequencies have been employed at one time or another, such a s 25, 40, 50, and 133 hertz, but the 60 hertz frequency has supplanted almost all of them.

An AC generator creates alternating current. In the generator a slip ring is connected to each end of the coil. The brushes are in constant sliding contact with the rings providing a way to pick up the electrical energy generated in the rotating armature. It's different from a DC generator because it has slip rings instead of a commutator.

I developed a father-son relationship with my lab assistant, Joseph Le Roy Hayden. Hayden and his wife eventually moved in with me. After Joseph's first son Joe was born, I legally adopted Joseph as my son. Midge and Billy were born, giving me three grandchildren.

My last research was on lightning, which threatened to disrupt the new AC power lines. I made fundamental contributions in that area.

I died on October 26, 1923. At the time of my death, I held over 200 patents.

German-American electrical engineer and inventor, best known for his research in alternating current. He was born Karl August Rudolf Steinmetz in Breslau, Silesia, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland), the son of a crippled lithographer. He was afflicted with the same hunchback deformity as his father, and reached a stature of only 4 feet as an adult. He studied in Breslau, Zurich and Berlin. Shortly after he received his Ph.D. in 1888, he had to flee Germany because of an article he wrote criticizing the government. He immigrated to New York City on July 1, 1889. He was initially hired by fellow German immigrant Rudolph Eickemeyer in Yonkers, New York to design electric motors and generators. Within 3 years, Steinmetz had published papers and given lectures that made him famous in engineering circles at age 27. At about the same time, Steinmetz Americanized his first name to Charles and substituted Proteus, a university nickname, for his two middle names. His middle name Proteus refers to the Greek god who could take on any shape or size. In 1893 the newly formed General Electric Company purchased Eickemeyer's company, primarily for his patents, but Steinmetz was considered one of its major assets. In 1894 Steinmetz was transferred to the main General Electric plant at Schenectady, New York, where he was made head of the calculating department. In 1895, he was granted a patent for a system of high-voltage three-phase alternating current power transmission that is still the basis of all long-distance power transmission to this day. In 1902 he retired from G.E. to teach electrical engineering at Union College, also in Schenectady. However, G.E. later set up a consulting engineering arrangement with Steinmetz that remained in effect for the rest of his life. At the time of his death, Steinmetz held over 200 U.S. patents. (bio by: Edward Parsons)

Burial:
Vale Cemetery
Schenectady
Schenectady County
New York, USA
GPS (lat/lon): 42.80795, -73.9253


Birth:
Now: Wroclaw, Poland

Buried:
Vale Cemetery

Karl married NEUBERT, Caroline about 1864. Caroline (daughter of NEUBERT, Unknown and UNKNOWN, Wife) was born about 1840; died about 1866 in Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]