Charles Proteus Steinmetz - Wizard of Schenectady

There are names that are well-known in the world of inventors and science, such as Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla. One of their contemporaries was just as influential, if not more, though his is not a household name. It is because of him, Charles Steinmetz, that we have the electrical advances of the last century. He, known as the "Wizard of Schenectady," the "Modern Jove," and "The Thunderer," who called himself a "queer, gnome-like figure," was the father of electrical engineering.

Karl August Rudolph Steinmetz was born in Breslau, Prussia - now Wrocław, Poland - on April 9, 1865 (the day the American Civil War ended, fun fact). His parents were Caroline (née Neubert) and Karl Heinrich Steinmetz, a lithographer in the railroad office. He was baptized Lutheran in the Evangelical Church of Prussia. His mother died when he was only one year old so, before his father remarried, he was cared for, and spoiled by, his grandmother.

Like his father and grandfather, Karl was born with dwarfism, kyphosis, and hip dysplasia. At his adult height, he was only about four feet tall. Even with these physical differences, he was able to attend school. He was mischievous, inquisitive, and had an excellent memory. He went to Johannes Gymnasium (secondary school), graduating with honors. After completing his time there, Charles's father agreed to send him to university instead of learning a trade. Beginning in 1883, he attended the University of Breslau, almost earning his doctorate five years later. Reportedly, he never missed a class, took extensive notes, and did independent experiments at home. He began by studying mathematics and astronomy, later expanding to theoretical physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, classics, economics and specialized work in higher mathematics and medicine. Unfortunately, though he completed his university work and doctoral thesis, the degree was never conferred.

In late 1880s Germany, socialist meetings and press were banned. Karl came under investigation by the police for his activities with the socialist university club and both writing for and editing a local social newspaper, the People's Voice. He fled to Zürich, Switzerland to avoid arrest. An author later theorized Karl also left Prussia due to financial difficulties paying tuition and tension with his father, stepmother, and half-sisters. He spent a year there attending the Polytechnic School and writing an engineering article for a German technical journal.

Since his visa was expiring, he spontaneously emigrated to the United States in 1889 with a friend, traveling in steerage. He changed his name to "Charles" to sound more American and chose the middle name "Proteus." Proteus was a university nickname of his, a reference the wise hunchbacked character from the Odyssey. Due to his dwarfism, he was nearly turned away at Ellis Island. The immigration officers considered Charles "medically unfit" and asked what profession he had. When he told them "theoretical physicist" they were shocked. Charles then showed some of his drawings and answered, "Draftsman," which satisfied the officers.

Charles moved to Yonkers, New York to work for a friend's, Rudolf Eickemeyer, firm. This firm, Osterheld and Eickenmeyer, was then working on a client's proposal to run trolley cars by electricity using alternating current (AC). Charles was put to work on this project. At the time, direct current (DC) was the default, so minimizing the AC power loss to make AC motors and generators more efficient required complex problem-solving. All of this research led to him establishing a fundamental law of magnetism known as the "Law of Hysteresis" (also called "Steinmetz's Law"), published in the American Institute of Electrical Engineering's magazine in 1892. The work, by the few who understood it, was immediately recognized as a classic. He was only 27 at the time. This showed that AC was not only feasible, but also more efficient than DC in transmitting over long distances. His work also transformed AC circuit theory and analysis: previously the methods were done with complicated calculus but Charles simplified it to using only algebra.

In 1893, Eickermeyer's company, including its patents and designs, were bought by the General Electric Company, a company who tried to hire him when he first immigrated. Charles was also a major asset in the purchase agreement. The founder and owner, Thomas Edison, sent Charles first to the plant in Lynn, Massachusetts and then to Schenectady, New York. It was here that he served as head of the calculating department (though he retired in 1902, he continued to serve as a consulting engineer until his death). He suggested establishing a GE Research Laboratory to better compete with the Germans trying to develop a better incandescent bulb. The lab also produced other inventions such as the x-ray and vacuum tube. Charles became the head of the calculating department and later the head of the engineer consulting group. Charles was known as a wunderkind, even earning the nickname "the Wizard of Schenectady." His many books and papers "taught a whole generation of engineers how to deal with AC phenomena." Because of him, commercial introduction of AC made rapid progress.

*Charles working with Thomas Edison, 1922. At this time, Edison was almost deaf, so the two communicated by tapping Morse Code on each other's knees.*

By the time of his death, he held over 200 patents, including for an efficient AC generator, the three-phase electrical circuit, and the metallic electrode arc lamp. Charles also advanced the study of lightning, both in the lab and with a lightning tower he had built. He created the first "man-made lightning" in a football field-sized laboratory in 1916, giving him the nickname the "Forger of Thunderbolts." In 1920, he also formed the Steinmetz Electric Motor Car Company in Brooklyn, New York; the company's first electric truck was launched in 1922, though the company folded the next year when Charles died. One of his cars, a 1914 "Duplex Drive Brougham" Detroit Electric automobile, is on permanent display at Union College.

Due to his influential discoveries, he served in many roles other than his work at GE. He served as the chair of electrical engineering at Union College from 1902 to 1913, remaining a faculty member there and continuing to teach Electrical Engineering and Electrophysics until his death in 1923; it is said that he served this entire time as an unpaid volunteer. Students loved him and his patience. He also helped create the radio station 2XQ in 1913 or 1915; this station also broadcast a concert on October 14, 1920 via "Radio Telephone," claiming to be the first scheduled program broadcast for public entertainment. Charles received an honorary degree from Harvard University in 1901 and a doctorate from Union College in 1903. He was a member and adviser to the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta at Union College, making their chapter house one of the first ever electrified residences. Other professional roles included President of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers 1901-1902 and the first vice-president of the International Association of Municipal Electricians 1913-1923.

*Charles at the Marconi wireless station in New Jersey; behind him stands Nikola Tesla & Albert Einstein stands to the left*

Charles was very involved in his community. He served as a board member on the Schenectady Board of Education for six years (four as the president) and President of the Common Council of Schenectady (when Socialist James Lunn became mayor). Though Charles eventually decided that socialism would not succeed in the United States - stating in 1922 that the country lacked a "powerful, centralized government of competent men, remaining continuously in office" and because "only a small percentage of Americans accept this viewpoint today" - he remained progressive. For instance, he introduced progressive school reforms in Schenectady: extended school hours, school meals, school nurses,, playgrounds, free textbooks, education for children with learning disabilities, and special classes for the children of immigrants. Though he was Jewish, he paid for a present for every Schenectady orphan at Christmas. He also supported automation, believing that it would give people more free time to pursue hobbies and art while supported by the state.

He made his home on Wendell Road in a house he designed. It was complete with a research lab, office, and greenhouse full of "ugly" plants and animals. His favorite plant was the cactus and he kept owls, alligators, a raccoon, two crows, a monkey, and a Gila monster as pets. He also nursed wild animals back to health. Once someone noticed that no fire was lit in his lab, to which Charles informed him was because a family of mice had made the stove their home. Charles also loved the outdoors, spending much time in his wood cabin on the banks of the Mohawk River, calling it "Camp Mohawk." He had a passion for automobiles and gliders, founding America's first glider club.

*Charles's Schenectady home, sometime between 1930-1946*

Charles truly loved children, though his appearance sometimes scared them, but he chose to remain unmarried. Because of his family history, he worried that he would pass on his dwarfism to his children. He instead created his own unique family arrangement. When his trusted lab assistant, Joseph LeRoy Hayden, announced he would marry and look for his own home, Charles instead offered the newlyweds to live in his own large home. Hayden's fiancée was skeptical (and reportedly once referred to Charles as "physically repugnant" when he wasn't around) but eventually agreed when Charles assured her that she could run the house any way she wanted. There were some growing pains initially with the arrangement, but eventually it smoothed out. The Haydens had three children so Charles legally adopted Hayden as his son, and became a grandfather as well. Charles doted on his new grandchildren - Joe, Midge, and Billy - telling them stories and doing science demonstrations. The home, though unusual, was very loving and the arrangement lasted until Charles's death.

Charles died on October 26, 1923, at the age of 58, of heart failure. He had just returned from a train trip west to see the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Hollywood. He was discovered unconscious in bed by his adopted grandson, Billy. At the time of his death, Charles held over 200 patents and had written 13 books and 60 articles. He was buried in Schenectady at Vale Cemetery. New York Governor Alfred E. Smith said of Charles, "He always wanted to help everybody." President Herbert Hoover later raised $25,000 to purchase his home and convert it into a museum but, sadly, the city and state disagreed on who should restore it and leveled the home 15 years later. Henry Ford bought Camp Mohawk, where Charles spent his summers, and moved it to Dearborn, Michigan.

He continues to be honored in the scientific community. There is "Steinmetz's equation," a "Steinmetz solid," and the "Steinmetz equivalent circuit theory." The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers gives the IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award, one of the highest technical recognitions. Charles was posthumously inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 1977.

Union College also honors Steinmetz. The Charles P. Steinmetz Memorial Lecture series began in his honor in 1925, sponsored by the Schenectady branch of the IEEE. The Charles P. Steinmetz Scholarship, sponsored by GE, has been awarded annually since 1923. Hayden's daughter, Marjorie, established the Charles P. Steinmetz Memorial Scholarship for engineering or physics students there. There is also an annual Steinmetz Symposium and the school's computer center is named Steinmetz Hall.

Charles also has a Chicago public high school, Steinmetz College Prep, named for him, as well as a public park in Schenectady. He is even remembered in the arts. In the 1944 Three Stooges short Busy Buddies, Moe refers to Curly as "Steinmetz." Charles was portrayed in a 1959 episode of The Joseph Cotten Show by actor Rod Steiger. He was a major character in The Lightning Keeper by Starling Lawrence and Electric City by Elizabeth Rosner. He is also featured in the U.S.A. trilogy by John Dos Passos. He was also honored by a US postage stamp in 1983.

There is a famous anecdote (maybe true, maybe not) about Charles, told by Charles M. Vest, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, during commencement in 1999:

“In the early years of this century, Steinmetz was brought to GE’s facilities in Schenectady, New York. GE had encountered a performance problem with one of their huge electrical generators and had been absolutely unable to correct it. Steinmetz, a genius in his understanding of electromagnetic phenomena, was brought in as a consultant — not a very common occurrence in those days, as it would be now.

Steinmetz also found the problem difficult to diagnose, but for some days he closeted himself with the generator, its engineering drawings, paper and pencil. At the end of this period, he emerged, confident that he knew how to correct the problem.

After he departed, GE’s engineers found a large “X” marked with chalk on the side of the generator casing. There also was a note instructing them to cut the casing open at that location and remove so many turns of wire from the stator. The generator would then function properly.
And indeed it did.

Steinmetz was asked what his fee would be. Having no idea in the world what was appropriate, he replied with the absolutely unheard of answer that his fee was $1000.

Stunned, the GE bureaucracy then required him to submit a formally itemized invoice.
They soon received it. It included two items:
1. Marking chalk “X” on side of generator: $1.
2. Knowing where to mark chalk “X”: $999.”

Most sincerely,

Christina

Further Reading

Charles Proteus Steinmetz: The Electrical Wizard of Schenectady by Robert W. Bly
Charles Proteus Steinmetz: A Biography by J.W. Hammond

Works Consulted

The Henry Ford. (2021). Charles Proteus Steinmetz. The Henry Ford. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/expert-sets/101448/

King, G. (2011, August 16). Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the Wizard of Schenectady. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinmetz-the-wizard-of-schenectady-51912022/

Martin, V. D. (2016). Charles Steinmetz, The Father of Electrical Engineering. Nuts and Volts Magazine. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/article/steinmetz_father_of_elec_engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2021). Charles Steinmetz. Lemelson - MIT. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/charles-steinmetz

Rogers, K. (2021, October 22). Charles Proteus Steinmetz: American Engineer. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Proteus-Steinmetz

Union College. (2021). Charles P. Steinmetz - Electrical Engineer, Inventor, Educator. Union College. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://steinmetz.union.edu/charles-p-steinmetz-electrical-engineer-inventor-educator

Whelan, M., & Reilly, E. (2014). Charles Proteus Steinmetz. Edison Tech Center. Retrieved December 23, 2021, from https://edisontechcenter.org/CharlesProteusSteinmetz.html

Last Updated: 22 Sept. 2023

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