Werner von Siemens, German electrical engineer and inventor, c 1880.

GERMANY - JUNE 28: Engraving by A Delzers of Ernst Werner von Siemens (1816-1892), the German electrical engineer who invented an electroplating process (1842) and developed an electric dynamo (1866). Siemen�s use of gutta-percha (a fibrous gum) to insulate cables in 1847 made the first underground and submarine telegraph cables possible. He was responsible for both the first telegraph line (1848) and the first electric railway in Germany, and together with his brother Sir William Siemens (1823-1883), developed a widely used process of steelmaking. In 1888 Siemens was made a member of the nobility (with the addition of �von� to his name). The standard scientific unit (SI) of electrical conductance, the Siemens (S), was named after him. Published by the International Telecommunication Union. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)