Werner von Siemens, Max Gebbert und Friedrich Dessauer
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Siemens Healthineers - Our company history

Published on May 8, 2023

Siemens Healthineers can trace its earliest beginnings back to the companies Siemens & Halske, Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall, and Veifa-Werke. At the beginning of the 20th century, after expanding from small workshops to become major enterprises, these three competitors embarked on a race to develop more advanced technology for the benefit of patients.

1844 - Werner Siemens used one of his inventions in the medical field for the first time. He treated his brother Friedrich´s toothache with his Volta Inductor.

The audio play gives you an idea of how this treatment may have been for Friedrich.
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The audio play gives you an idea of how this treatment may have been for Friedrich.
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1877 - Erwin Moritz Reiniger founded a workshop for electromedical devices on Schlossplatz in Erlangen. Around nine years later, he joined forces with Max Gebbert und Karl Schall and, in 1886, they founded the company Vereinigte physikalisch-mechanischen Werkstätten von Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall (RGS) which was headquartered in Erlangen. 


RGS-Werkstatt Schlossplatz Erlangen

1893 - With increasing success and the steadily growing workforce, the building on Schlossplatz became too small. In 1893, they were able to move into the new factory building on what were then the outskirts of Erlangen. Where machines once hummed the Medmuseum is located today.


1901 - Friedrich Dessauer founded the Elektrotechnische Laboratorium Aschaffenburg (ELA), which later became Veifa-Werke. Dessauer was a brilliant scientist who brought important innovations into the new field of X-ray technology. 

Dessauer was still a teenager when he built his first X-ray device. Discover the whole story.
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Dessauer was still a teenager when he built his first X-ray device. Discover the whole story.
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On November 8, 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays and changed the world! Shortly after the discovery of X-rays, our engineers started to construct our company´s first X-ray tube for medical applications.


Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen

World War I was a decisive turning point for the companies Siemens & Halske, Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall, and Veifa-Werke. Markets collapsed, many of their staff were called to the front, and more and more capacity was given over to the production of military equipment.

In the course of World War I, Veifa-Werke got into financial trouble and were taken over by RGS.

1925 - Following a series of failed speculative investments and poor strategic decisions during the period of high inflation, RGS had amassed debts of some 6 million gold marks. So RGS needed a financially sound investor and offered the company to Siemens & Halske. On January 1, 1925, RGS was taken over by the Berlin-based company but initially maintained its status as an independent stock corporation.

1932/33 – The merger was also completed from a structural perspective with the founding of Siemens-Reiniger-Werke (SRW). The manufacturing was concentrated in Erlangen.

Fusionsvertrag S&H und RGS

The year 1933 was a fateful one for Siemens-Reiniger-Werke and for Germany and the world as a whole. The installation of the National Socialist dictatorship had a direct impact on the company. Armament and wartime economy had a growing impact on business activities. After the outbreak of the war, forced laborers from occupied regions replaced the SRW employees who had been conscripted.

The turbulent postwar period presented Siemens-Reiniger-Werke with significant challenges – keeping production up and running, tackling social deprivation among its workforce, and rebuilding its international networks.

1950 - SRW presented itself on the world stage again for the first time at the 6th International Congress of Radiology (ICR) in London. The exhibition showcased new developments in X-ray technology and electromedicine.

ICR 1950

In the 1950s, SRW once again began welcoming visitors from around the world to Erlangen. On factory tours, customers received insights into the manufacturing process and familiarized themselves with the latest products. 

1964 – The SRW headquarters got a new look! For the next 50 years, the central administration of SRW was located in this impressive high-rise building with adjacent showroom.

1966 - Rapid technological progress in the expanding global market called for regular restructuring measures. The founding of Siemens AG in 1966 brought together S&H, Siemens-Schuckertwerke, and SRW as a single legal entity. Within Siemens AG SRW was known as Wernerwerk für Medizinische Technik from then on. In 1969, this became the Medical Technology Division (UB Med).

Verwaltungshochhaus der SRW in Erlangen

In the Middle Kingdom

1983 - Medical technology from Siemens has been used in China since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1983, Siemens set up an overseas branch in China. Increasingly close business relations between Siemens and China led to the publication of the first Chinese edition of Electromedica, Siemens’ medical customer journal, in 1985.

Siemens Labordiagnostik

In 2006 and 2007, Siemens took over the three long-standing laboratory diagnostics companies Dade Behring, Diagnostic Products Corporation, and Bayer Diagnostics. Siemens thus became the first supplier to combine diagnostic imaging, laboratory diagnostics, and medical information technology under one roof. 

At the financial statement press conference in May 2014, the president and CEO of Siemens AG, Joe Kaeser, announced plans to establish the medical technology division as an independent company. The aim was to achieve greater flexibility. Siemens Healthcare GmbH was founded on May 1, 2015, and the new “Siemens Healthineers” brand was presented a year later.

Siemens Healthineers Hauptversammlung

The listing of Siemens Healthineers AG on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on March 16, 2018, finally ushered in a new chapter in the company’s history.

Siemens Healthineers Börsengang, 2018

In February 2019, the first Annual Shareholders’ Meeting took place and around three and a half years after the IPO, in September 2021, Siemens Healthineers was included in the German benchmark index (DAX).

Siemens Healthineers Hauptversammlung 2019

Following a long-standing collaboration, Siemens Healthineers and Varian Medical Systems merged in April 2021.



If you want to have a deeper dive into the company history discover our new book about the history of Siemens Healthineers. .

Book Siemens Healthineers Company History