Siemens

Siemens, German family of technologists and industrialists. Ernst Werner von Siemens (1816–92) invented, among other things, an electroplating process (patented 1842), a differential governor (c. 1844), and a regenerative steam engine. The principle for it was developed by his brothers Friedrich (1826–1904) and then Karl Wilhelm (1823–83) to form the basis of the open-hearth process. Karl later became Sir Charles William Siemens after obtaining British citizenship (1859). He and Ernst both made many innovative contributions to telegraph science, culminating in the laying of the Atlantic Cable (1874) by the company Sir William owned—done from the Faraday, a ship he designed.