The Most Famous
ENGINEERS from Austria
Top 7
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Austrian Engineers of all time. This list of famous Austrian Engineers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Alexander Wienerberger (1891 - 1955)
With an HPI of 61.41, Alexander Wienerberger is the most famous Austrian Engineer. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages on wikipedia.
Alexander Wienerberger (December 8, 1891 – January 5, 1955) was an Austrian chemical engineer and right wing nationalist, who worked for 19 years in the chemical industry of the Soviet Union. While he worked in Kharkiv, he created a series of photographs of the Holodomor of 1932–1933, which serves as photographic evidence of the mass starvation of the Soviet Ukrainian people at that time. Alexander also spent time fighting for the Nazis but was denied full membership due to his Jewish heritage.
2. Hans Ledwinka (1878 - 1967)
With an HPI of 56.12, Hans Ledwinka is the 2nd most famous Austrian Engineer. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Hans Ledwinka (14 February 1878 – 2 March 1967) was an Austrian automobile designer.
3. Viktor Kaplan (1876 - 1934)
With an HPI of 55.71, Viktor Kaplan is the 3rd most famous Austrian Engineer. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.
Viktor Kaplan (27 November 1876 – 23 August 1934) was an Austrian engineer and the inventor of the Kaplan turbine.
4. Aurel Vlaicu (1882 - 1913)
With an HPI of 54.66, Aurel Vlaicu is the 4th most famous Austrian Engineer. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Aurel Vlaicu (Romanian pronunciation: [a.uˈrel ˈvlajku] ; 19 November 1882 – 13 September 1913) was a Romanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor, and early pilot.
5. Carlo Abarth (1908 - 1979)
With an HPI of 54.58, Carlo Abarth is the 5th most famous Austrian Engineer. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Carlo Abarth (15 November 1908 – 24 October 1979), born Karl Albert Abarth, was an Italian automobile designer. Abarth was born in Austria, but later was naturalized as an Italian citizen; and at this time his first name Karl Albert was changed to its Italian equivalent of Carlo Alberto.
6. Béla Barényi (1907 - 1997)
With an HPI of 52.21, Béla Barényi is the 6th most famous Austrian Engineer. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Béla Barényi (1 March 1907, Hirtenberg, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy – 30 May 1997, Böblingen, Germany) was an ethnic Hungarian engineer from Austria-Hungary, who was a prolific inventor, sometimes even compared to Thomas Edison. Barényi made numerous crash protection inventions, and is therefore regarded as the father of passive safety in automotive design. Barényi is also credited with first conceiving the original design for the German people's car (the Volkswagen Beetle) in 1925, – notably by Mercedes-Benz, on their website, including his original technical drawing, – five years before Ferdinand Porsche claimed to have made his initial version. Barényi was inducted into the Detroit Automotive Hall of Fame in 1994, and nominated for the award of Car Engineer of the Century in 1999. Barényi died in Böblingen, Germany in 1997. A Mercedes advertisement featuring Barényi’s image stated: “No one in the world has given more thought to car safety than this man.” Béla Barényi left a broad record of his inventions to the Technisches Museum Wien in Vienna in his native country.
7. Hans Moravec (1948 - )
With an HPI of 47.27, Hans Moravec is the 7th most famous Austrian Engineer. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Hans Peter Moravec (born November 30, 1948, Kautzen, Austria) is an adjunct faculty member at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. He is known for his work on robotics, artificial intelligence, and writings on the impact of technology. Moravec also is a futurist with many of his publications and predictions focusing on transhumanism. Moravec developed techniques in computer vision for determining the region of interest (ROI) in a scene.
Pantheon has 7 people classified as engineers born between 1876 and 1948. Of these 7, 1 (14.29%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living engineers include Hans Moravec. The most famous deceased engineers include Alexander Wienerberger, Hans Ledwinka, and Viktor Kaplan. As of April 2022, 1 new engineers have been added to Pantheon including Béla Barényi.
Living Engineers
Go to all RankingsDeceased Engineers
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Alexander Wienerberger
1891 - 1955
HPI: 61.41
Hans Ledwinka
1878 - 1967
HPI: 56.12
Viktor Kaplan
1876 - 1934
HPI: 55.71
Aurel Vlaicu
1882 - 1913
HPI: 54.66
Carlo Abarth
1908 - 1979
HPI: 54.58
Béla Barényi
1907 - 1997
HPI: 52.21
Newly Added Engineers (2022)
Go to all RankingsWhich Engineers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 6 most globally memorable Engineers since 1700.
