RATHENAU, EMIL

born Dec. 11, 1838, Berlin died June 20, 1915, Berlin German industrialist and a leading figure in the early European electrical industry. In 1883 he founded the Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft to manufacture products based on Thomas A. Edison's patents, for which he had purchased the European rights. The firm was renamed Allgemeine-Elektrizitts-Gesellschaft in 1887. Rathenau and the noted German engineer Werner von Siemens established the Telefunken Gesellschaft in 1903. Rathenau was the first to produce aluminum in Germany for industrial use.