Joseph Ritter von Baader (1763–1835)

Joseph Ritter von Baader was the son of a physician in Munich, who initially studied medicine but turned to mechanical engineer and mining. He spent much of the period 1786-94 in England but subsequently returned to Bavaria where in 1796 he became government Director of Mining and Mechanical Engineering. He designed conveyor system at the salt works at Reichenhall. The publication of his book "Vollständige Theorie der Saug- und Hebepumpen" (A complete theory of suction and lifting pumps) at Bayreuth in 1797 led to a commission from Maximilian I Joseph (1756-1825), king of Bavaria to design new fountains for the royal palace at Nymphenburg. The pumps, installed in 1806, are still serviceable. He invented a pedal-powered boat in 1813, and made many proposals to build railways in Bavaria, amongst them plans for a railway from Nürnberg to Fürth railway, published in 1814. He died a few days before that railway, the first in Germany, opened in 1835.
With Joseph Anton Maffei (1790-1870) and Theodor von Cramer Klett (1817-84) Baader is regarded as the father of the railway system in Bavaria.

Outside Bavaria Baader is chiefly important as the author of "Neues System der Fortschaffenden Mechanik" (New systems of mechanical transport) which is a valuable source of information on early railways in Great Britain and elsewhere. He himself paid for the publication of the book in 1822 and for its high quality copper engravings.