History

Dornier was founded by Claude Dornier. Born in Bavaria in 1884, Dornier graduated from the Technical University in Munich in 1907. Soon employed as a scientific adviser, Dornier began fundamental research and design. His early findings laid the cornerstone for the evolution of metal aircraft. As part of the Dornier team’s on-going research in aerospace technology, they discovered a previously unexplained phenomenon. Pitting was taking place on the surface of an aircraft as it approached the sound barrier – a unique occurrence caused by the shock wave created in front of a droplet of moisture. This finding, coupled with close collaboration among hospitals and Dornier’s development laboratories, resulted in the company’s invention of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL®). To date, millions of people around the globe have been successfully treated using Dornier’s break-through discovery.