Benjamin G. Lamme

Benjamin Garver Lamme was an American electrical engineer, born January 12, 1864 near Springfield, Ohio, who spent his career at Westinghouse Electric and became its chief engineer in 1903, a post he held until his death on July 8, 1924. He refined Nikola Tesla's induction motor design into a more efficient practical form, invented the damper winding used in large electrical machines, and designed the 5,000-kilowatt generators built for the Adams Power Plant at Niagara Falls, which made it the world's largest power station for years afterward. He also engineered the power system for New York's elevated railway and, in 1918, received the AIEE Edison Medal for his contributions to the electrical power field. His sister, Bertha Lamme Feicht, worked alongside him on the Niagara Falls turbogenerator design and became the first woman to work professionally as an electrical engineer in the United States, and after his death Lamme's bequest endowed both the AIEE Lamme Medal and an Ohio State University engineering prize.