Eugen Wüster Explained

Eugen Wüster
Birth Name:Eugen Bernhard Casper Wüster
Birth Date:10 October 1898
Birth Place:Wieselburg, Austria
Death Place:Vienna, Austria
Occupation:electrical engineer
industrialist
terminologist

Eugen Wüster (10 October 1898 – 29 March 1977) was an industrialist and terminologist, regarded as "the father of technological standardization".

Career

Wüster became enthusiastic about Esperanto when he was 15, soon becoming an Esperanto translator and author, particularly about questions of Esperanto terminology and lexicography. He trained in electrical engineering and later took over his father's factory. From mid-1918 to 1920, as a student, he compiled the encyclopedic Esperanto-German dictionary. Wüster used the experience gained in compiling this dictionary to aid the writing of his Stuttgart thesis.[1]

As a result of his work on international technical communication, the Technical Committee for Terminology Standardization of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO/TC 37) was established in 1936. Wüster conned many of the international principles of terminology standardization and contributed to the foundations of the modern information society. The influence of Wüster's ideas has been prominent especially in the medical field, where it has also given rise to a critical reaction.[2]

He taught at the University of Vienna. The Eugen-Wüster Archives at the University of Vienna as well as at the Esperanto Museum and Department of Planned Languages of the Austrian National Library are based on material that he bequeathed. The Eugene Wüster Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of terminological research has been established under the sponsorship of the Vienna University and the City of Vienna.

Terminology

Wüster collaborated in the compilation and publishing of the first edition of the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary, London 1938.[3]

He also worked on problems of bibliography, on reform of German orthography, on the Universal Decimal Classification system, on problems in informatics. Wüster also wrote a dictionary about mechanical tools, the latest version of which is available online.[4] In 1971 Wüster initiated the founding of Infoterm,[5] which he pro-actively supported until his death. He left many unpublished manuscripts on various subjects.

Publications (selection)

Translations

Notes and References

  1. Internationale Sprachnormung in der Technik, besonders in der Elektrotechnik (International language standardization in technology, particularly in electronics), Berlin 1931
  2. Barry Smith, Werner Ceusters and Rita Temmerman, “Wüsteria”, Medical Informatics Europe (MIE 2005), Geneva, Studies in Health Technology and Informatic, 116 (2005), 647–652.
  3. http://www.electropedia.org/ Electropedia: The World's Online Electrotechnical Vocabulary
  4. Web site: The machine tool: an interlingual dictionary of basic concepts; comprising an alphabetical dictionary... - Catalogue National Library of Australia . 2024-03-22 . catalogue.nla.gov.au . en.
  5. http://www.infoterm.info/ Infoterm