12 Facts About Ernst Lauda

Ernst Lauda was awarded the Order of Franz Joseph and the second class of the Order of the Iron Crown and was given his own coat of arms.

Ernst Lauda's father Adolf Lauda, was a director of the Empress Elisabeth Railway.

From 1876 to 1882, Lauda studied engineering at the Vienna University of Technology.

Ernst Lauda started out repairing the Stein-Mautern bridge that crosses the Danube river, as well as bridges across the Vltava river.

In 1895, Ernst Lauda was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Hydrographic Central Office in Vienna.

In 1909, Ernst Lauda became head of the hydraulic engineering department at the Ministry of Public Works.

Ernst Lauda blamed the flooding on increased deforestation around the Danube river, and the issue of deforestation around the Danube and the Seine were discussed at the 1909 International Congress of Navigation.

Ernst's great-grandson Niki Lauda said that Ernst's work on the Danube was the main reason why he was given heraldic honours.

From 1915 to 1916, Ernst Lauda was President of the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects, and from 1917 to 1918, he focused on repairing buildings damaged during the First World War.

Ernst Lauda retired as an engineer in 1918, although he still gave occasional lectures at the Vienna University of Technology in the 1920s.

In 1892, Ernst Lauda became a knight of the Order of Franz Joseph.

In 1917, Ernst Lauda received a knighthood, and an honorary doctorate from the Vienna University of Technology.