Josef Ressel

Joseph Ludwig Franz Ressel was an Austrian forester and inventor of Czech-German descent, who designed one of the first working ship's propellers.

Ressel was born in Chrudim, Bohemia then part of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Habsburg Monarchy, which became part of the Austrian Empire at his death. His father Anton Hermann Ressel was a native German speaker, and his mother Marie Anna Konvičková was a native Czech speaker. He studied in the Linz Gymnasium, Budweis artillery school, University of Vienna and the Mariabrunn Forestry Academy at Mariabrunn Monastery then near Vienna.

He worked for the Austrian government as a forester in the more southern parts of the monarchy, including in Motovun, Istria. His work was to secure a supply of quality wood for the Navy.