Viktor Schauberger was an Austrian forester/forest warden, naturalist, philosopher, inventor and Biomimicry experimenter. With his work he made an extraordinary contribution to knowledge of the natural world.
He intuited what we now recognise as the quantum or subtle energy effects of water. His understanding was built up from shamanic and experiential observation of Nature in the untamed Alpine wilderness. His motto: "Observe and Copy Nature".
He was critical of textbook theory and the arrogance and lack of imagination of 'experts' and refused to go to college, believing that he would lose his intuitive gifts.
Schauberger was also gifted with engineering skills which are apparent in his environment-friendly technology and implosive energy devices designed to release people from enslavement to destructive sources of energy.
He is celebrated for his discoveries in the water sciences, in agricultural techniques and in the energy domain – which energies enhance and which harm life.
Schauberger provides us with a comprehensive and holistic approach to understanding Nature. His insights form the foundations of what might be called a 'science of Nature'.
He found two forms of motion in Nature: outward, expanding flow that is used to break down, and inward-spiralling which Nature uses to build up and energise. We use the first to generate energy, which is why it is destructive to the environment.
Minute changes in temperature affect the outcome of an energetic process. The balance between the attraction and repulsion of polarised atoms is the engine of creation.
Viktor Schauberger vividly described how our disdain for Nature's ways will bring only environmental catastrophe.
His vision - humanity working within Nature's laws - is the path we must rediscover, if we are to survive.
Further reading
Kronberger Hans & Lattacher Siegbert, "On the Track of Water's Secret - from Victor Schauberger to Johann Grander", Uranus 1995
Jane Cobbald, Viktor Schauberger - a Life of Learning from Nature (2006)
Olof Alexandersson, Living Water -Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy
Alick Bartholomew, Hidden Nature - The Startling Insights of Viktor Schauberger (2003)
Brian Desborough, A Blueprint for A Better World (2002)
Viktor Schauberger and Callum Coats, The Schauberger Companion (1994)
Eco-Technology (1994)
Living Energies (1995)
Living Energies - Viktor Schauberger's brilliant work with Natural Energies Explained (2002)
The Water Wizard: The Extraordinary Properties of Natural Water, Eco-Technology no.1, (1997)
Nature As Teacher: New principles in the Working of Nature, Eco-Technology no.2, (1998)
The Fertile Earth: Nature's Energies in Agriculture, Soil Fertilisation and Forestry, Eco-Technology no.3,(2000)
Energy Evolution: Harnessing Free Energy from Nature, Eco-Technology no.4, (2001)
Nick Cook, "The Hunt for Zero Point" (2002)
1885 Viktor Schauberger born in Holzschlag, Upper Austria, into a family with a long tradition of caring for the unspoilt Alpine forests.
1914-18 Soon after the birth of his son Walter, Viktor was enlisted in the Kaiser's army.
1919 Appointed forest warden and gamekeeper.
1920 Became head warden ('forst meister') in Brunnenthall-Steyerling, the property of Prince Adolph van Schaumburg-Lippe.
1922 Radical designs of new log flume at Steyerling, which greatly reduced cost of bringing trees out of inaccessible mountains, with no damage to the timber.
1924-28 National consultant for timber flotation, building successful flumes in Austria, Bavaria and Yugoslavia.
1929 First patent applications for water engineering and turbines. This was a very creative time, and for the next few years he did a lot of writing.
1930-32 Experiments with producing electrical energy directly from water, converting degraded into pure water and the prototype of the 'trout turbine' based on his observations of a trout's behaviour in a fast flowing stream. Study of comparative agricultural methods in Bulgaria, sanctioned by King Boris.
1933 Publication of his only book, Unsere Sinnlose Arbeit "Our Senseless Toil - The Cause of the World Crisis"; subtitled 'Growth through Transformation, not Destruction, of the Atom'. Meeting with Hitler to discuss Viktor's ideas about power generation and agricultural methods.
1936-7 Arnold Hohl made detailed records of his visits to Viktor Schauberger, with contemporary writings, letters, notes and comments which were published in 1993 in a special edition of Mensch und Technik - naturmass (Humanity & Technology - in accordance with Nature).
1938 Constructs with his son Walter a replica of Lord Kelvin's Falling Water Experiment of capillary research, generating a voltage of 20,000 volts.
1940 The first Repulsine (flying saucer) built first in Berlin and then in Vienna, where the prototype broke from its mooring and smashed through the factory's ceiling. Heinkel steals Viktor's copyright and builds his Schriever 'Flying Top' in his Rostock factory.
1943 Himmler gives the SS the task of producing secret weapons. Viktor gets sucked into the Nazi machine against his will.
1944 Schauberger drafted into the SS and ordered (on pain of death) to develop an improved Repulsine and a submarine engine for Germany's war effort, at the Mathausen concentration camp. All prototypes and working models of the Repulsine subsequently ordered by Field Marshall Keitel to be destroyed on the collapse of the German armies.
1945 Invading Russian intelligence team removes Viktor's research papers and his models from his Vienna flat. Held for a month in 'protective custody' by American forces in Austria who decided he was not to be deported to the USA, as were countless other German atomic scientists, engineers and physicists. Viktor starts work on his Klimator, for domestic air conditioning.
1945-50 Focuses on research to increase soil fertility and agricultural production.