Austria – 150th Anniversary of the Vienna Tech High School, Featuring J.J. Ritter von Prechtl
1965 Silver 25 Schilling 30mm (12.96 grams) 0.800 Silver (0.3344 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 2897
J.J. Ritter von Prechtl facing left, text circling.
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Johann Joseph von Prechtl (16 November 1778, Bischofsheim, Grand-Dukal Würzburg/(today’s) Lower Franconia – 28 October 1854, Wieden No. 54 (today’s Paniglgasse, 4th district of Vienna)) was a German-born Austrian (since 1802) technologist and educator. He is regarded as a pioneer of technical education in Austria.

From 1796 he studied philosophy, theology and legal science in Würzburg, later working as a private instructor outside of Brünn, and afterwards as a teacher of natural sciences, chemistry and physics at a secondary school in Vienna (1810-14). In 1815 he became founder and first director of the Vienna Polytechnic Institute.

With Johann Arzberger (1778-1835), he conducted research of public gas illumination, being credited with introducing a coal gas generating plant at the institute. Reportedly, in 1818, there were 25 operational public gas lanterns in Vienna. In 1823 he developed a portable baroscope.

Written works

With Karl Karmarsch (1803-79), he was editor of a multi-volume encyclopedia of technology, Technologische Encyklopädie oder alphabetisches Handbuch der Technologie, der technischen Chemie und des Maschinenwesens (Technological encyclopedia or an alphabetic textbook of technology, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering). Begun in 1830, the encyclopedia consisted of twenty volumes, with five supplementary volumes being issued by Karmarsch after Prechtl’s death (from 1857 to 1869).[4] Other noteworthy written efforts by Prechtl include:

• Ueber die Fehler in der Erziehung, vorzüglich in Hinsicht auf die gesellschaftlichen Uebel, 1804 – On errors in education in terms of social ills.
• Anleitung zur zweckmäßigsten Einrichtung der Apparate zur Beleuchtung mit Steinkohlen-Gas 1817 – Guide to the most appropriate device for lighting appliances with coal gas.
• Praktische Dioptrik als vollständige und gemeinfassliche Anleitung zur Verfertigung achromatischer Fernröhre : nach den neuesten Verbesserungen und Hülfsmitteln und eigenen Erfahrungen. 1828 – Practical dioptrics as complete and comprehensible instructions for construction of achromatic telescopes.

Since 1886, the Prechtlgasse in the Alsergrund district of Vienna has been named in his honor.

Austria, officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich), is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.5 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,879 square kilometres (32,386 sq mi). Austria’s terrain is highly mountainous, lying within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and Austrian German in its standard form is the country’s official language. Other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene.

The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire. From the time of the Reformation, many Northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. The Thirty Years War, the influence of the Kingdom of Sweden and Kingdom of France, the rise of the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Napoleonic invasions all weakened the power of the Emperor in the North of Germany, but in the South, and in non-German areas of the Empire, the Emperor and Catholicism maintained control. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria was able to retain its position as one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. Following Napoleon’s defeat, Prussia emerged as Austria’s chief competitor for rule of a larger Germany. Austria’s defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary. After the defeat of France in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, Austria was left out of the formation of a new German Empire, although in the following decades its politics, and its foreign policy, increasingly converged with those of the Prussian-led Empire. During the 1914 July Crisis that followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Germany guided Austria in issuing the ultimatum to Serbia that led to the declaration of World War I.

After the collapse of the Habsburg (Austro-Hungarian) Empire in 1918 at the end of World War I, Austria adopted and used the name the Republic of German-Austria (Deutschösterreich, later Österreich) in an attempt for union with Germany, but was forbidden due to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919). The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919. In the 1938 Anschluss, Austria was occupied and annexed by Nazi Germany. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies and Austria’s former democratic constitution was restored. In 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral.

Today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $52,216 (2014 est.). The country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, and is a founder of the OECD. Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro in 1999.