Albert L. Rohrer
- Birthdate
- 1856/02/29
- Birthplace
- Montgomery County, OH, USA
- Death date
- 1951/10/18
- Associated organizations
- General Electric (GE)
Biography
Albert Lawrence Rohrer was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, on February 29th, 1856. He spent his early life on a farm, and after receiving an academic education, taught in the public school system for several years. He studied at Ohio State University in the late 1870s, taking a special course in mechanics and electricity. In 1883, he returned to the university, where he was an assistant to Dr. T.C. Mendenhall, a professor of physics, assisting the jury at the Cincinnati Exposition, which made extended tests on electric lighting systems.
Rohrer was hired by Thomson-Houston in June 1884 at Lynn, MA. After the merger of Thomson-Houston and the Edison General Electric Company of Schenectady to form the modern General Electric in 1982, Rohrer moved to Schenectady and became the electrical superintendent at GE's Schenectady works.
In 1901, Rohrer convinced George E. Emmons, the Works manager, to begin a shop apprenticeship program, in the initial areas of machinist, toolmaker, draftsman, blacksmith, patternmaker, with tinsmith, cabinetmarker, foundry, technical manufacturing and glass technician to come later. Through the apprenticeship program, Rohrer has been credited with bringing more than 3,000 high school graduates into the program, and more than 4,000 college graduates into the company through the student engineering program.
Rohrer retired from General Electric in 1926, and died on October 18th, 1951.
