Adolf Franz Beck
Adolf Franz Beck (born December 2, 1892 in Chicago ( USA ), † March 10, 1949 in Bad Elster ) was a German engineer and chemist .
Life
education
After finishing school, A. Beck started as an apprentice in the chemical laboratory of the A. Borsig company in Berlin-Tegel in 1907 to learn the profession of analyst. In addition to his practical training, he attended the Berlin Business Academy, which he graduated in 1911 with the professional title of "engineer". In October 1911 he joined the Analytical Laboratory of the Allgemeine Elektrizitätsgesellschaft (AEG) in Berlin. But already in May 1912 he accepted a call from the chemical factory Griesheim-Elektron (CFGE) in Griesheim, where he started working in the test laboratory of the electron-metal department.
Research in Bitterfeld
In 1915, A. Beck was transferred to the CFGE branch in Bitterfeld , where he was employed in setting up the Elektron metal plant. A. Beck was interested and energetic in the development of light metals . In 1921/22 A. Beck made an important invention that went down in technical history as the so-called "sulfur patent" (DRP 368 906, DRP 384 137). In 1923 A. Beck developed the Elrasal process for the melt treatment of raw magnesium to remove non-metallic additions (DRP 403 802). In 1930 A. Beck developed the seawater-resistant Al-Mg alloy hydronalium . Due to its low tendency to corrode, the alloy attracted great interest and was used in shipbuilding, seaplane construction and rail vehicle construction. The book "Magnesium and its alloys" published by him in 1939 - a collaborative effort by 19 authors - was the standard work of magnesium-light metal metallurgy for 50 years . In 1940, under the direction of Adolf Beck, a process development was completed according to which pure aluminum can be obtained from unsorted aircraft scrap. According to the new process, pure aluminum could be obtained, which could be used again for the production of alloys. This process went down in technical history as the Beck process . After the war, A. Beck worked on the development of bearing metals for plain bearings and on the development of aluminum bronze . Due to the shortage of household items after the war, the researchers in the metal laboratory in Bitterfeld developed everyday objects of all kinds. A "... new hit, ... [was] an e-metal tobacco pipe" , a combination of electron metal and igelite (PVC). With the anodic oxidation process further developed by A. Beck, the pipe bowls could be colored in different colors. A. Beck has applied for 65 patents, some of which can be considered pioneering processes.
Management activity
In 1925, A. Beck was transferred to head light metal research in Bitterfeld. In 1936, A. Beck was appointed authorized signatory at IG Farben Bitterfeld and, in 1937, director of the entire electron-metal department. Due to a certain distance from the National Socialists, A. Beck was replaced as director and head of the light metal department in 1941. After the war, the Soviet headquarters asked A. Beck to take over the management of the IG Farben AG Bitterfeld works. A. Beck headed the Bitterfeld Electrochemical Combine (EKB) until his early death .
Restart of the Bitterfeld works
A. Beck wrote in a letter on September 28, 1945: “… The Bitterfeld works of IG Farbenindustrie AG. did not suffer any damage from air strikes. Only one laboratory was destroyed by fighting [fire with incendiary ammunition ]. A large number of lines were also hit. The damage was, albeit extensive, of a minor nature and has largely been repaired in the past few months, so that the factories can run to capacity as soon as the raw material, sales and transport difficulties have been resolved. Only in the magnesium and chlorate plant did damage occur as a result of the sudden shutdown when the Americans marched in, and it would take a long time to completely eliminate it. “In 1946, the Soviet occupation troops began dismantling the Bitterfeld works . For A. Beck, the months of dismantling were the "most oppressive and depressing" of his life. At the beginning of 1947, the plant with 10,000 employees had almost reached the normal "peace output " again , although the main base of the plant, light metal production, had been almost 100 percent destroyed. Further new appointments on a larger scale also had to be made in order to achieve the production targets required by the Soviet plant management.
Honors
In recognition of his services to the development of magnesium and aluminum alloys and their importance for aircraft construction, A. Beck was awarded the Lilienthal Medal in 1938 by the Lilienthal Society for Aviation Research. Due to his professional competence, A. Beck was appointed to the board of trustees of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Metal Research (KWI) in Stuttgart. In recognition of his special services to the metallurgical industry and his scientific achievements in the field of metallurgy of magnesium, he was awarded the honorary doctorate Dr.-Ing. E. h. granted by the Technical University of Aachen . In honor of the pioneer of magnesium metallurgy, the teaching laboratory of the company vocational school of the Electrochemical Combine in Bitterfeld (EKB) was named “Dr. Adolf Beck “awarded. After 80 years, the metal laboratory in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park was named "Dr. Adolf Beck" on April 18, 2018. He had played a key role in planning the light metal laboratory in 1936 and opened it with a pioneering speech on February 14, 1938. Until 1945 it was one of the largest and most modern light metal research institutes in the world.
Individual evidence
- ↑ LHASA, MER I507, No. 5418
- ^ Knauer, Manfred: Hundred Years of Aluminum Industry in Germany (1886–1986), Walter de Gruyter-Verlag 2014
- ↑ LHASA, MER I507, No. 5238
- ↑ Tragsdorf, Birgit u. a .: Bitterfeld Chronicle - 100 years of the Bitterfeld-Wolfen chemical site, CEO of Chemie AG Bitterfeld Wolfen 1993
- ^ Annual General Meeting of the Lilienthal Society - Aviation Research Days in Berlin. NSDAP, party organ of, [ed.]. North German edition: sn, October 13, 1938, Völkischer Beobachter, p. 4.
- ↑ Maier Helmut: Armaments research in National Socialism, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2002
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Beck, Adolf Franz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 2, 1892 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago ( USA ) |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 10, 1949 |
| Place of death | Bad Elster |