Ábrahám Ganz
Swiss-born iron manufacturer (1814–1867)
Ábrahám Ganz (born as Abraham Ganz; 6 November 1814 – 15 December 1867) was a Swiss-born iron manufacturer, machine and technical engineer, entrepreneur, father of Ganz Works. He was the founder and the manager of the company that he made the flagship of the Hungarian economy in the 19th century.2
From Wikipedia’s article on Ábrahám Ganz (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born Feb 6, 1814, died Dec 15, 1867.1
About
Despite his early death in 1867 the company remained one of the strongest manufacturing enterprise in Austria-Hungary. Many famous engineers worked at Ganz Works inter alia Károly Zipernowsky, Ottó Bláthy, Miksa Déri, András Mechwart, Kálmán Kandó, Donát Bánki, János Csonka and Theodore von Kármán and several world-famous inventions were done there, like the first railway electric traction, or the invention of the roller mill, the carburetor, the transformer and the Bánki-Csonka engine.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ábrahám Ganz, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2
Companies
- Ganz WorksFounder8
Early life and education
Early years
He was born into a Swiss Calvinist family in Unter-Embrach. His father, Johann Ulrich Ganz, was a cantor teacher. His mother, Katharina Remi, died when he was just 10 years old. He was the oldest son out of nine children.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ábrahám Ganz (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career
Occupation: inventor, engineer, entrepreneur.4
- Date not recordedFounded Ganz Works3
Personal life
On the 24 October 1849 he married Jozefa Heiss, the daughter of the city judge of Buda, Laurentius Heiss. They could not have their own children, so they adopted two related orphan girls, Anna Pospech and Jozefina Ganz.
He was nominated honorary citizen of Buda by the city council on 4 September 1863. In 1865 the emperor, Francis Joseph I, personally expressed his highest appreciation to Ábrahám Ganz. On the 23 November 1867 they celebrated the production of the hundredth wheel, made by chill casting, and Ganz gave a dinner for all his employees and their families. During his life he spent a lot of money for social purposes. In his company he uniquely opened a retirement fund and a patient fund.
He kept his Swiss citizenship. There is no evidence that he learned or could speak any Hungarian. He spoke with his family in German, and the employees of his factory spoke with him in German also.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ábrahám Ganz (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Links
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataÁbrahám Ganz on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaÁbrahám Ganz on Wikipedia
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8WikidataGanz Works, Founder
- 9