TUM Department of Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering was one of the original departments of the newly founded Polytechnische Schule München in 1868, then called the Mechanical-Technical Department. Johann Bauschinger was professor for Technical Mechanics and Graphical Statics. In 1871, he founded the Mechanical-Technical Laboratory. He was succeeded by August Föppl in 1894.[3]

Carl von Linde, who held the Chair of Theoretical Machine Science, established the Laboratory of Machine Science in 1875. Moritz Schröter, a distinguished expert in the field of technical thermodynamics, succeeded him in 1879. In 1902, von Linde returned as associate professor of Applied Thermodynamics. On his initiative, the Laboratory for Technical Physics was established.[3]

In 1880, Rudolf Diesel graduated with the best marks since the university was established. His invention of the Diesel engine was a groundbreaking innovation, despite his initial calculations about the degree of efficiency being far too optimistic.[3]

In 1901, the first chair of electrical engineering was established at the department. Though initially viewed as a part of mechanical engineering, it grew increasingly more independent. In the 1940s, the department's name was changed to Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and by 1974, electrical engineering was separated into a new department.[3]

Willy Messerschmitt graduated from the department in 1923. He established the Messerschmitt Flugzeugbau GmbH while still a student, which would later become the Messerschmitt AG in 1938. In 1930, he was granted a lectureship on the construction and design of aircraft, and in 1937, he was appointed honorary professor.[3]

In Nazi Germany, the university was brought into line, partly by force, partly by conviction, and partly out of anticipatory obedience. Jewish members and those with politically undesirable views were expelled.[3]

During World War II, the department conducted large-scale research in support of the war effort, for example in the fields of aircraft design, torpedo propulsion, petrol injection and substitute fuels for car and aircraft engines.[3]

After the war, teaching resumed in 1946, though denazification expelled 13 of 24 lecturers, four of whom which were reinstated by 1953. The chairs for aviation research were shut down and did not operate again until the Paris Agreements ended Allied occupation of Germany.[3]

In 1951, Gustav Niemann established the Chair of Machine Elements. In 1967, the founding of the Institute of Machine Tools and Industrial Engineering instigated a shift to research to information technology and production engineering.[3]

By 1990, almost 5,000 students were enrolled at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 1997, the department relocated to a new 60,000 m² building on the Garching campus.[3]

In 2018, aerospace and geodesy at TUM became a separate Department of Aerospace and Geodesy.[3]