As a child William was sensitive and affectionate, the baby of the
family, liking to roam the woods and fields by himself, and curious to
observe, but not otherwise giving any signs of the engineer. He
received his education at a commercial academy in Lubeck, the Industrial
School at Magdeburg (city of the memorable burgomaster, Otto von
Guericke), and at the University of Gottingen, which he entered in 1841,
while in his eighteenth year. Were he attended the chemical lectures of
Woehler, the discoverer of organic synthesis, and of Professor Himly,
the well-known physicist, who was married to Siemens's eldest sister,
Mathilde. With a year at Gottingen, during which he laid the basis of
his theoretical knowledge, the academical training of Siemens came to an
end, and he entered practical life in the engineering works of Count
Stolberg, at Magdeburg. At the University he had been instructed in
mechanical laws and designs; here he learned the nature and use of tools
and the construction of machines. But as his University career at
Gottingen lasted only about a year, so did his apprenticeship at the
Stolberg Works. In this short time, however, he probably reaped as much
advantage as a duller pupil during a far longer term.
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