History

On 1 October 1913 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Egon Friedrich Oesterlen became a professor of the Technical University of Hanover in the field of "Hydropower machines including flywheels and regulators and hydropower plants". Prof. Oesterlen is Rector of the TH Hannover from 1.7.1925 to 30.6.1927 and represents his chair until the winter semester 1948/49.

Prof. Oesterlen founds the "Laboratory for Hydroelectric Machines" (later also the Institute) in this year. The associated test field is completed in 1923. The premises of this laboratory housed the IMKT's test field until the move to Garbsen in 2020.

Coming from Gdansk, Prof. Egon Martyrer brings the addition "Machine Elements" in 1949, so that the institute is henceforth called "Chair and Institute for Machine Elements and Hydraulic Fluid Machinery".

Increasing student numbers and changed requirements in the field of research make a redesign and expansion of the premises appear increasingly necessary. Between 1962 and 1965, the institute building is therefore rebuilt, spatially expanded and increased by one floor. The considerable increase in office, experimental and workshop space as well as the newly created student workrooms create good conditions for the future tasks in research and teaching.

On March 1, 1973, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Ehrlenspiel is appointed to the chair of "Machine Elements and Design Technology" and head of the institute of the same name. Together with the appointment of a chair holder, a reorientation of the fields of work takes place. The treatment of hydraulic fluid machinery is transferred to the Institute of Fluid Machinery. The new focus besides machine elements is now on design science. A newly founded department for safety engineering within the institute represents the third scientific pillar. Under the direction of Prof. Ehrlenspiel, tribological problems in rolling and plain bearings are investigated. In addition, work in the field of design methodology and technical reliability is the focus of interest. Prof. Ehrenspiel plays an important role in all scientific and industrial committees, e.g. as a reviewer for the DFG, as a founding member of the FVA and in individual committees of the VDI and the VDMA. 

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ernst-Günter Paland received his doctorate in 1966 under Prof. Martyrer in Hanover. This was followed by a position at the Schaeffler industrial plant in Herzogenaurach as, among other things, technical manager of product and application design and, from 1968 to 1975, a lectureship in design engineering at the Technical Faculty of the University of Erlangen. On April 1, 1978, he took over the Chair and Institute for Machine Elements and Design Technology at the University of Hanover.