Adolf Herz

Adolf Herz (1862 – 1947 in Luzern), an Austrian Mechanical Engineer was born in 1862 in Nový Jičín (German: Neutitschein), Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic, as son of a well-to-do brewery owner. After completing the Realschule in Brno, Moravia, he studied mechanical engineering at the k&k Technische Hocshschule in Vienna, where he eventually settled down and obtained "das Bürgerrecht". He opened a werkstatt to produce some of his inventions, mainly related to automobiles, which then were in their infancy. He invented a much improved sparkplug, and a more effective shock absorber.

Together with his brother Max, a cardiologist and Privatdozent, he designed one of the first modern blood pressure monitors. He also became active as an amateur photographer, and in general participated in the typical Viennese "Kaffeehaus" culture, in the Kaffeehaus Central.

From 1905 to 1913 Adolf Herz lived in New York, where he helped his younger brother Leopold set up a business exploiting his personal inventions in the United States.