Josef Ressel - Vienna, Austria - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

The Monument of Josef Ressel (1793 - 1857) is located at Resselpark at the southern end of Karlsplatz just in front of Vienna University of Technology. The 3 meters high bronze statue on marble pedestal, a work of famous German-Austria sculptor Anton Dominik Fernkorn, was unveiled on January 18,1863. On the bronze plaque there was a Latin inscription "Josepho Ressel, Patria austriaco, natione Bohemo, dui omnium prior rotam cochlidem pyroscaphis propellendis adplicuit Anno Domini MDCCCXXVII. (Josef Ressel, homeland in Austria, motherland in Bohemia,who as first of all used working ship's propellers in 1827." The words "natione Bohemo (motherland in Czech)" was later cut out(?).
The statue depicts Josef Ressel worn in long trousers, double-breasted blazer and cloak on his right shoulder.


Josef Ressel (1793–1857)

Josef Ressel, an inventor and a writer, was originally a forest engineer. He was born in 1793 in Chrudim and his family was Czech-German (father was a German native speaker, while his mother’s mother tongue was Czech). He graduated from a forestry academy but became famous as the inventor of the ship propeller.

Being fascinated by seas and ships, he was wondering how to give ships more power and speed. It was his idea to provide a ship’s steam machine with a screw that works in a similar way as a propeller so that its rotational motion would generate a force to drive the ship. Although others laughed at this idea, Ressel applied for a patent in 1826 in Austria, which he received a year later. However, his invention was not recognised before he died. It was nine years after his death, in 1866, when the National Academy in Washington confirmed Ressel’s authorship of the invention of the screw-propeller. Josef Ressel died in 1857 in Ljubljana, where he is buried.

Besides the screw-propeller, Ressel invented a screw press-roller for wine and oil, a steam machine capable of leaching out dying agents and tans, a ball bearing without oiling and a pneumatic post.

URL of the statue: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   11/27/2018 greysman visited it 04/24/2017 TeamSO visited it 03/03/2017 PISA-caching visited it 03/10/2015 lillesandler visited it 09/08/2013 Metro2 visited it

View all visits/logs