František Křižík

František Křižík (; 8 July 1847 – 22 January 1941) was a Czech inventor, electrical engineer and entrepreneur.

Biography

Křižík was born on 8 July 1847 in a poor family in Plánice. His father, a shoemaker, died early. When he was 12, the family moved to Prague, where he began studying, but for financial reasons he did not graduate from the real school. However, due to his significant technical talent, he was still accepted to the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT) in 1866. After completing his studies at the university, Křižík was first employed at the Kaufmann factory for the production of telegraphs and signals as a repairman for telegraph devices. He soon began to make his own discoveries.

Křižík is considered the pioneer of practical electrical engineering and in electrification of Bohemia and Austria-Hungary. At the time he was often compared to Thomas Edison. In 1878, Křižík invented a remotely operated signaling device to protect against collision between trains. Křižík's cores are magnetic solenoids cores shaped so as to ensure an approximately uniform pull in different positions in the solenoid.

His first experiments in Plzeň resulted in the invention in 1880 of the automatic electric arc lamp, the so-called "Plzen Lamp" which was displayed at the International Exposition of Electricity in Paris in 1881. This lamp, with self-adjusting brushes, won the gold medal from among 50 similar devices.

Electrified railway Tábor–Bechyně

František Křižík built the first electrified railway in the Austro-Hungarian empire from Tábor to Bechyně in 1903. The track gauge was . The maximum speed was .

Honours The main belt asteroid 5719 Křižík was named in his honour.

A Prague street and subsequently near subway station were named after František Křižík – Křižíkova.