Ott Christoph Hilgenberg

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Ott Christoph Hilgenberg (* 1896 in Grebenstein near Kassel; † 1976 in Berlin) was a German engineer, scientist and a humanist. Directly after his Abitur in the year 1914 Hilgenberg was drawn to the war service, but he was discharged after a knee injury. Afterwards he studied electrical mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Berlin and remained as an engineer until 1924.

Inspired by Alfred Wegener's work Hilgenberg intensely worked in the area of the Expanding Earth theory. From 1934-1938 he was an assistant in teaching Transmission (mechanics). An engagement as a Professor failed because Hilgenberg refused to become a member of the NSDAP. Due to good contacts Hilgenberg could receive 10000 technical books for the library of the TH Berlin from the British. Hilgenberg rejected the honor of the Bundesverdienstkreuz. In 1948 a doctorate was awarded to him.

[edit] Further reading

• Hilgenberg, O.C. (1933), Vom wachsenden Erdball (The expanding Earth), Berlin: Giessmann & Bartsch 
• Scalera, G. and Jacob, K.-H., ed. (2003), “Ott Christoph Hilgenberg in twentieth-century geophysics”, Why expanding Earth? – A book in honour of O.C. Hilgenberg, Rome: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, pp. 25-41