Monument to Carl Benz, donor: Daimler AG, 2007, plaque 90.0 × 60.0 × 3.0 cm (without mounting bracket), height 203.0 cm, width 81.0 cm, length 39.0 cm, bronze plaque on sandstone pedestal. KIT South Campus, Courtyard of Honor.
As KIT’s most renowned alumnus, Carl Benz (1844–1929) has a memorial dedicated to him in the KIT Courtyard of Honor. Born in Karlsruhe’s Mühlburg district, Benz studied mechanical engineering at Karlsruhe Polytechnical College from 1860 to 1864. This education was important for his subsequent inventive work. Although internal combustion engines were not yet part of the curriculum at the Polytechnical College, Benz acquired the necessary tools for engine design. In 1885, Benz reportedly drove a three-wheeled vehicle he had built himself, powered by a four-stroke internal combustion engine, for the first time. He applied for a patent for his design in early 1886. Benz’s fame stems from the success of his invention, which was practical, mass-producible, and marketable. The monument to him was erected in 2007 next to the building of today’s KIT Department of Mechanical Engineering, which already existed in his student days. It stands on the green strip between the western façade and the pavement on the Courtyard of Honor. This location for the sandstone column with bronze relief and inscription, financed by Daimler AG, was chosen because it was erected by the university faculty at its own initiative. The monument symbolizes the longstanding relationship between the sponsoring company and the faculty, encompassing decades-long training of specialists, exchanges among top personnel, and research collaborations. Benz’s role as the “inventor of the automobile” in the dedicatory inscription is a reduction. Trackless motor cars had already been built as experimental prototypes prior to Benz’s. However, the commercial success of his motor car and the ensuing company history focused public attention on this particular inventor. kn