Emil Škoda

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the fictional psychiatrist from the television series Law & Order, see Emil Skoda (TV).
Grave of Emil Škoda, St. Nicholas Cemetery, Plzeň
Enlarge
Grave of Emil Škoda, St. Nicholas Cemetery, Plzeň

Emil Ritter von Škoda (November 19, 1839, Plzeň, BohemiaAugust 8, 1900, Amstetten, Austria) was a Czech engineer and industrialist.

Škoda studied engineering in Germany and then became chief engineer of a small machine factory in Plzeň. He bought the factory three years later, in 1869, and began to expand it, building a railway connection to the facility in 1886 and adding an arms factory in 1890 to produce machine guns for the Austro-Hungarian Army. His facilities continued to expand over the next decade, and he incorporated his holdings in 1899 as the Škoda Works, which would become famous for its arms production in both World War I and World War II.

[edit] Notes

  • Note regarding personal names: Ritter is a title, translated approximately as Knight, not a first or middle name. There is no equivalent female form.