# Gisbert Kapp
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{{Short description|Austrian-English electrical engineer (1852–1922)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}
{{infobox engineer
|birth_date={{birth date|1851|09|02|df=y}}
|birth_place=[Mauer](/source/Mauer%2C_Vienna), Austria
|death_date={{death date and age|1922|08|10|1852|09|02|df=y}}
|death_place=[Birmingham](/source/Birmingham), UK
|alma_mater=[Federal Polytechnic Zurich](/source/ETH_Z%C3%BCrich)
}}
'''Gisbert Johann Eduard Kapp''' (2 September 1852 – 10 August 1922) was an Austrian-English [electrical engineer](/source/electrical_engineer).
His parents were the Austrian counselor Gisbert Sebastian Kapp (1816-1857) and [Luisa Kapp-Young](/source/Luisa_Cappiani). After finishing school in Vienna, Austria and [Prague](/source/Prague), [Czechia](/source/Czech_Republic), Kapp studied mechanical engineering at the then Federal Polytechnic Zurich, which is now know under the name [ETH Zürich](/source/ETH_Z%C3%BCrich). He gained practical experience as a ship's engineer and in a machine factory in [Augsburg](/source/Augsburg), Germany, for a year each, before serving for two years in the [Austrian navy,](/source/Austro-Hungarian_Navy) based in the then Austrian [Trieste](/source/Trieste). He came to England in 1875, where he took up work in the industry, desinging and selling large pumps across Europe.[{{Cite web |last=Tucker |first=D.G. |date=February 1973 |title=Gisbert Kapp, First Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Birmingham |url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-eps/eece/brochures/gisbert-kapp-booklet.pdf |access-date=24 May 2026}}] The [International Exposition of Electricity](/source/International_Exposition_of_Electricity) in Paris 1881 brought him in contact with Electrical Engineering, the science he dedicated his future career to. He was [naturalised](/source/Naturalization) in Britain the same year.
He was awarded a [Telford Medal](/source/Telford_Medal) in 1885/6.[James Forrest (editor), (1886), ''Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers'', p. 177; [https://archive.org/stream/minutesproceedi27britgoog#page/n192/mode/2up archive.org].] In 1904 he was offered the position as the first Chair of Electrical Engineering at the [University of Birmingham](/source/University_of_Birmingham), a post he held until 1919.[{{cite book|last=Day|first=Lance|author2=Ian McNeil|title=Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1996|pages=392|isbn=978-0-415-06042-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HQDGHQzVqAC}}][{{Cite web |title=About us |url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/college-of-engineering-and-physical-sciences/electronic-electrical-systems-engineering/about-us |access-date=24 May 2026 |website=University of Birmingham |language=en |archive-date=11 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260311130328/https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/college-of-engineering-and-physical-sciences/electronic-electrical-systems-engineering/about-us |url-status=live }}] In 1909 he was elected the president of the [Institution of Electrical Engineers](/source/Institution_of_Electrical_Engineers).[{{cite web | url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Gisbert_Kapp | title=Gisbert Kapp | publisher=Grace's Guide to British Industrial History | accessdate=22 April 2018 | archive-date=29 December 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229172253/https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Gisbert_Kapp | url-status=live }}][{{cite journal|author=Kapp, Gisbert|title=Developments of Electrical Engineering|journal=Nature|date=25 November 1909|volume=82|issue=2091|pages=112–115|doi=10.1038/082112a0|s2cid=3974851|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7czAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA112|doi-access=free |bibcode=1909Natur..82..112. }} (Presidential address, Institution of Electrical Engineers, 11 November 1911)]
Kapp developed the basis for the calculation and construction of [alternating current](/source/alternating_current), [dynamo](/source/dynamo)s and the [transformer](/source/transformer). The ''Electronic, Electrical & Systems Engineering Department'' at the University of Birmingham was situated in a building named after him in November 1972