As part of her official visit; Slovak President Zuzana Caputova commemorated the legacy of Slovak scientist, inventor and university professor Aurel Stodola by laying a wreath on his bust at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology to mark the 80th anniversary of Stodola's death on Friday. A distinguished expert in the theory and construction of steam and gas turbines, Stodola taught at a university in Zurich for 37 years in the late 19th/early 20th century and founded a mechanical laboratory there. Among his students was also the future founder of theory of relativity, Albert Einstein.
Stodola carried over his mechanical innovations also into health care applications and together with surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch managed to construct an artificial mechanical hand. The principle of his innovation was employed in the production of artificial limbs.
He died on December 25, 1942 in Zurich, where he was originally buried. His remains were later transferred and ceremoniously buried in Liptovsky Mikulas in 1989.
Source: TASR
