List of German Inventors and Discoverers - A

A

• Ernst Abbe: Invented the first refractometer, and many other devices. Donated his shares in the company Carl Zeiss to form Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, still in existence today.
• Franz Carl Achard: Developed a process to produce sugar from sugar beet. Built the first factory for the process in 1802.
• Robert Adler: Invented a better television remote control.
• Konrad Adenauer: Invented soya sausage (1916; "Kölner Wurst") and, together with Jean and Josef Oebel, wholemeal bread (1917; Kölner Brot).
• Wilhelm Albert: Invented the wire rope 1834.
• Alois Alzheimer: Psychiatrist who discovered Alzheimer´s disease, a degeneration of the brain in old age.
• Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe: Invented the gyrocompass in 1907.
• Manfred von Ardenne: Self-taught researcher, applied physicist and inventor. Inventor of television among other things. 600 patents in fields including electron microscopy, medical technology, nuclear technology, plasma physics, and radio and television technology.
• Leo Arons: Mercury-vapor lamp together with Peter Cooper Hewitt.
• Leopold Auerbach: Discovery of Plexus myentericus Auerbachi, or Auerbach's plexus.
• Max Abraham: Physicist. Worked as Max Planck's assistant for three years. Developed theories on electrons.