Heinrich Press (1901-1968)

Heinrich Richard Ernst Press was born in Oker, in the Harz area of Germany on 31 December 1901. He passed his Abitur in 1922 in Braunschweig (Brunswick) and began studying civil engineering at the Technische Hochschule there. Later he transferred to the TH Berlin, where he sat his degree examination in 1926. Press was employed by Heinrich Müller-Breslau (1851-1925) for a short time to help with statics projects. He completed his two-year training for the second state examination at the State Waterways Administration in Potsdam and at the Prussian Water Management Administration in Berlin.

In 1928 Press was given a position at the Gottlieb-Tesch building company and in 1935 he was made the company secretary, finally becoming the managing director. He was awarded a doctorate at the Technische Hochschule Berlin in 1929 with a thesis on questions of soil mechanics. During the years that followed, he remained active in science during his work as an engineer and he wrote numerous publications concerned with foundation problems, concrete manufacturing and other aspects of civil engineering.

In 1948, Press was called to the Chair of Hydraulic Engineering at the TU Berlin. He engaged himself with great commitment in the reconstruction of the badly damaged Hydraulics Engineering laboratory. Soon, through his research work, Press was able to help the laboratory regain its old reputation. In 1955 he converted the laboratory into an independent Institute for Hydraulics Engineering and Water Management. In 1958/59, a new institute building was established, for which Press had collected substantial funds as a result of donations from friends and sponsors. Thus he was able to make hydraulic engineering research at the Technische Universität Berlin state-of-the-art. After his appointment to the TU Berlin, Press remained closely in contact with practical work. As an expert and consultant, he was involved in nearly all the German Federal Republic's dam and water power projects between 1947 and 1967. He was also consulted as an expert by foreign governments, the World Bank, the UN and the FAO on most of the major dam projects. In this way, Press participated in the construction of more than 250 dams over the course of his working life. Additionally, Press was actively involved in innumerable committees and associations as he was President of the German Federation for Water Management, publisher of the magazine "Water Management", Vice-President of the International Congress for Large Dams, as well as the Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany at the International Shipping Congress among other things.

Despite his strong commitments outside the university, he took his task as a lecturer very seriously indeed. He wrote a number of important text books that were often frequently republished and translated into a number of languages.

Press received numerous honours from his own country and others. The Universities of Braunschweig, Vienna, La Paz, Lima, Bologna, Toulouse, Pennsylvania and Thessaloniki awarded him honorary doctorates and professorships. Many governments honoured his support for major dam projects with medals, and more than 10 academies elected him to their members. Press died on 17 August 1968.

Lit.: Commemorative Publication on Heinrich Press, Mitteilungen aus dem Institut für Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft No. 55, Berlin 1961

[J. Z.]