Porsche Award of the TU Wien
Stuttgart. Ferdinand Porsche’s birthday was more than 135 years ago.
On September 3, 1875, the versatile designer was born in Maffersdorf (now Vratislavice / Czech Republic) near Reichenberg (now: Liberec) in northern Bohemia. In 1931, he founded a design office in Stuttgart whose wide technical range is somewhat comparable to what Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG Stuttgart offers many clients today. Many of Ferdinand Porsche’s designs became famous worldwide. These included the Lohner-Porsche electric car, the Mercedes SSK, the Auto-Union-Racing-Car, and the Volkswagen Beetle (VW Käfer). Ferdinand Porsche joined the electrical company Bela Egger & Co. in Vienna at 18. His abundant talent and technical understanding took him from worker to head of the test room in just a few years. Pioneering designs shaped Porsche’s career path. In 1897, for example, he designed the wheel hub engine, and in 1898 he moved to the k. und k. Hofwagenfabrik Jacob Lohner & Co. in Vienna. Connoisseurs of automotive history are familiar with the Lohner-Porsche electric car, which caused a great stir at the Paris World’s Fair in 1900. Even then, it was clear how much Porsche paid attention to the aesthetics of the design. The external form also had to harmonize, and the pure technology also had to look appropriate in detail. Shortly after his 75th birthday, Ferdinand Porsche died in Stuttgart on January 30, 1951.
The Porsche Award of the TU Wien is endowed with 50,000 EUR. It is awarded every 2 years to engineers who have distinguished themselves through outstanding achievements in motor vehicle development. The award was endowed in 1976 by Kommerzialrat Louise Piech-Porsche.