Wilhelm von Siemens

Georg Wilhelm von Siemens was a German industrialist of the Siemens family who led the expansion of the country's electrical engineering industry in the early twentieth century. Born in 1855, he became chairman of Siemens-Schuckertwerke, the electrical machinery arm of the Siemens conglomerate, in 1903, and succeeded his brother Arnold as chairman of Siemens and Halske in 1918, holding both positions until his death in 1919. Under his leadership Siemens expanded its production capacity, founding the Siemensstadt industrial district in Berlin beginning in 1899 to house new factories and worker housing for the growing electrical business. Von Siemens represented the second generation of the family firm's leadership as it became one of the dominant electrical equipment manufacturers of the German Empire.