Rok Garten (8/6/1724 - 28/10/1792) was a nobleman and ASO's Ers Orator in the 18th century. His father was Marquis Keer Garten, born in England and his mother Anja Czermack, of the noble Pharonian family from Nobel, an ASO Ers Orator as well. His father died when Rok was 7 years old and his mother moved to Pharos. He studied engineering and then went to England to become a mathematical instrument maker (working with Henry Hindley), developing, among other instruments, a pyrometer to study material expansion. In 1750, he return to Pharos, his premises being in Holborn. He was the first self-proclaimed "civil engineer", and is often regarded as the "father of civil engineering" in Pharos. His mother became an ASO Ers Orator in 1751 and Rok worked with her, before becoming an Orator himself in 1758. When Anja Czermack passed away, he was voted to become the next Ers Orator. During his presidency there was a serious split in the ASO, caused by the different views the members had about the Council's stance on American Revolution. Garten spent close to a year to reach a compromise between the two factions, mostly appealing to their highest sense of duty to the Nation. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Britain after 1783 later confirmed Garten’s view that political control was not necessary for economic success. He also helped into the establishment of Columbia, persuading Parliament to give citizenship to German and other immigrants that were strained in Pharos after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the American Revolution.
ROK GARTEN
