| Wilhelm Exner | |
| Nationality: | Austrian |
| Birth Name: | Wilhelm Franz Exner |
| Birth Date: | 9 April 1840 |
| Birth Place: | Gänserndorf, Lower Austria, Austrian Empire, |
| Death Place: | Vienna, First Austrian Republic |
Wilhelm Franz Exner (born 9 April 1840 in Gänserndorf, Lower Austria; died 25 May 1931 in Vienna) was former president of the Austrian Business Association and initiator of the Wilhelm Exner Medal.
Exner was the youngest graduate of the Polytechnic Institute of the Department of Performing Geometry, Building and Machine Science at the age of 22. In 1862, Exner attended the World Exposition in London, where he began to start a network of politics and business. In 1875, Wilhelm Exner was appointed Professor of Engineering and between 1881 until 1900 Rector of today’s University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.[1]
Exner established the modern type of vocational schools in Austria, is one of the creator of the Chamber of Labor and was co-founder of the Vienna Technical Museum. The law for examination and material testing goes also back to him.[2]
Due to his affiliation to the Austrian Business Association, the Wilhelm Exner Medal was established in 1921 and was awarded to outstanding scientists and researchers.[3]
The Wilhelm Exner Hall is named after him and was originally a factory bought by the Department of Trade in 1899. Since 1960, the building is used by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.[4] The Wilhelm Exner Gasse is a road in Alsergrund and has been named in honour of Exner's 90th birthday in 1930.[5] Since 2015, the Wilhelm Exner Medal Foundation has been honoring the laureates with the Exner Lectures.[6] The laureates include 20 Nobel Prize winners and engineers like Ferdinand Porsche and Wernher von Braun.[7]