RICHERT

SWEDEN (see also List of Individuals)

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16.5.1857 Stockholm/S - 4.2.1934 Stockholm/S

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Johan Gustaf Richert graduated in 1880 as a civil engineer from the Royal Technical University KTH in Stockholm. He then joined the Royal Corps of Engineers where he advanced to engineer in 1885 and chief engineer in 1889. Richert founded his own consulting firm in 1896 and there mainly added to the development of hydropower projects. In parallel, Richert was appointed Lecturer at KTH in 1897, and appointed there in 1903 by King Oscar II professor of civil engineering. Richert was awarded the Honorary Doctorate from Stockholm University in 1909 and left KTH in 1911. His successor was Wolmar Fellenius (1876-1957), the international hydraulician and first president of IAHR.

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Richert may be considered the key person having provided Sweden with hydroelectricity and excellent drinking water, two of the corner stones of a modern industrial society. Around 1890, Richert was in charge of the drinking water supply for the city of Gothenburg, the earliest such project in Sweden. At the same time, he developed the hydropower plant of Lilla Edet North of Gothenburg. Around 1905, Richert introduced artificial infiltration of lake and river water when the drinking water bearing strata became over exploited. His 1911 book on groundwater flow is one of the few documents that he published. Richert was mainly the practicing engineer, and as a pragmatist solved engineering problems as they presented themselves, he aimed to find the best solution with a good performance. Richert was involved in various professional associations, including Svenska Vattenkraft-Föreningen, Svenska Konsulterande Ingeniörers Förening and Ingeniörsvetenskaps Akademien. He may thus be considered a pioneer of Swedish engineering associations and there took a prominent position. Richert was awarded the 1895 Polhem Prize for a paper dealing with the transport capacity of partially filled sewers.

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_{Anonymous (1914). Johan Gustav Richert. Teknisk Tidskrift 44(27): 302g. P}

_{Hult, J. (2000). Richert, Johan Gustaf. Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon 30: 153-159. Bonnier: Stockholm. P}

_{Larsen, I. (2000). A la recherche du temps perdu. Zentech: Brussels. P}

_{Richert, J.G. (1900). Les eaux souterraines artificielles. Fritze: Stockholm.}

_{Richert, J.G. (1911). Die Grundwasser mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Grundwasser Schwedens. Oldenbourg: München.}

_{Svedberg, I. (1934). Johan Gustaf Richert. Kungl. Fysiografiska Sällskapets Lund 4: 40*-43*. P}