Emil Huber-Stockar

Emil Huber-Stockar

Emil Huber-Stockar (1865-1939) was a Swiss entrepreneur and railway pioneer. After training as a mechanical engineer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich (ETHZ) and spending some years in America, Huber took over the management of the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon, founded by his father Peter Emil Huber-Werdmüller, near Zurich, Switzerland. He focussed on solving the difficulties of high power, electrically powered mainline railway systems. In 1904, he electrified the Seebach-Wettingen line with high-voltage alternating current (15,000 volts) at low frequency (15 Hertz). This experimental operation was successful. The first railway to use this system (standard in several European countries today, but with a frequency of 16.7 Hertz) was the Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway. In 1925, Emil Huber-Stockar received an honorary doctorate from the ETHZ for his achievements.

Family

Emil Huber-Stockar was the son of Peter Emil Huber-Werdmüller and brother of lawyer and diplomat Max Huber. In 1895, Emil married Marie Helena Stockar, daughter of Hans Julius, a lawyer