https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/european-inventor-award/meet-the-finalists/josef-theurer
Josef Theurer
Railway track-maintenance machinery
Category
Lifetime Achievement
Technical field
Transport
Company
Plasser & Theurer
Austrian inventor and entrepreneur Josef Theurer is a pioneer in the field of railway construction. He has more than 500 inventions to his name, and the company he established with a partner in 1953, Plasser & Theurer, is now the world market leader for railway track-maintenance machines. Among his countless inventions is an innovative track-borne machine for installing overhead lines, patented in 1988, which broke new ground and made railway construction considerably quicker and easier.
Nominated for the European Inventor Award 2012 in the category Lifetime achievement
Related finalists
Professor Josef Bille of the University of Heidelberg in Germany has filed almost 100 patents in the field of ophthalmology and is a pioneer in the area of laser eye correction. He developed a method for mapping irregularities in the cornea with unprecedented precision and fine-tuning the lasers to repair them. This ground-breaking invention, and its continuous improvement, has corrected near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism in millions of patients worldwide.
Looking for a solution to a practical problem, Italian entrepreneur Mario Moretti Polegato set out to create the perfect breathable shoe which would let air in but keep water out. His invention, a waterproof, breathable sole for footgear, with a membrane of vapour-permeable and waterproof material, has revolutionised the footwear industry. And the company he founded in 1995, GEOX, is now one of the largest shoe manufacturers in the world.
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