Prof. Franz Ollendorff – the founder of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Technion.
Professor Ollendorff was born in Berlin in 1900. He received his Diplom-Ingenieur from the Technische Hochschule, Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1921, and the Doctor-Ingenieur in 1922. After few years as an electrical engineer at Siemens Professor Ollendorff joined the Technische Hochschule in Berlin as a scientist and lecturer. His first, out of 11 books ‘Die Grundlagen der Hochferquenztechnik’, was published in 1926. Professor Ollendorff became a leading scientist in Germany in Electron Phsics and Devices, and in Applied Relativity, but was dismissed from his position by the Nazi regime. In 1937 he escaped to Israel. Shortly after his arrival in Israel he joined the Technion, and in 1938 founded the Electrotechnic Department. In 1947 this department became the Technion Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and Professor Ollendorff became its first dean. He served as faculty member until 1981. In addition to his profound research activities and seminal contributions, Professor Ollendorff was also a highly distinguished teacher highly regarded by faculty members, and admired by students. Although his strengths and reputation were better known in physical electronics, including medical electronics, he was deeply interested in human vision and based on theoretical considerations predicted correctly some functions of the human visual cortex. Professor Franz Ollendorff died in Haifa in 1981.
Scientific text books written by Professor Franz Ollendorff
Curriculum Vitae
1900 Born, March 15, in Berlin.
1921 Graduated as “Diplom-Ingenier” from the “Technische Hochschule” Berlin-Charlottenburg.
1922 Doctor-Ingenieur, “Technische Hochschule”, Danzig.
1922 – 1924 Principal Assistant, Institute of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Danzig.
1924 – 1928 Research Engineer, Research Department of Siemens-Schuckert-Werke, Berlin.
1928 – 1933 Senior Assistant and ‘Privatdozent’ (Lecturer), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technische Hochschule, Berlin-Charlottenburg.
1933 Dismissed by the Nazis’ National-Socialist Government.
1933 – 1934 Teacher at Jewish Primary School, Berlin
1934 – Emigration to Palestine.
1935 – 1937 Member of “Judische Jugendhilfe” in Berlin, and Head of “Jugend Alijah School”, preparing Jewish children towards emigration to Palestine.
1937 Return to Palestine.
1937-1980 Professor of Electrical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Founder of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering’ and its first dean.
1938 Organization and Management of the Department for Electrical Engineering of the technical High-School affiliated with the Technion.
1952 – 1980 Research Institute Professor, Technion — Israel Institute of Technology.
1956 Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley.
1976, 1980 – Visiting Professor,Technische Hochschule, Wien, and ETH, Zurich
1980 – Professor Emeritus.
1981 Deceased, December 9, in Haifa.
Prof. Ollendorff (in front) with the graduates of the first class of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering first class
AWARDS
Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences.
1948 Weizman Prize.
1950 Israel Prize for Exact Sciences.
1959 Honorary Citizen of Haifa.
1960 Honorary D.Sc. – Technische Hochschule Berlin-Charlottenburg.
1961 Vice-President of the IEEE.
1971 Education Medal of the IEEE.
1974 Rothschild Prize in Technology.
Franz Ollendorff's Haifa Honorary Citizenship Certificate
MAIN FIELDS OF INTEREST
- Electron Physics and Devices
- Electromagnetism
- Relativistic Electromagnetism
- Quantum Electronics
- Medical Electronics
- Vision