Josef Popper (Josef Popper-Lynkeus) (1838–1921)

Austrian inventor. Born and raised in the Jewish ghetto in Kolin, Bohemia. Studied engineering in Prague, 1854–8. Settled in Vienna in 1858 as a railway official. Invented a steam valve in 1867; retired on the proceeds in 1898. Freethinker and author who published works on political economy, aeronautics, and the subconscious. He used the pseudonym Lynkeus when publishing on the subconscious, and by 1921 was referring to himself and was known as Popper-Lynkeus. A close friend of Ernst Mach and respected by Albert Einstein.