Fritz Grasenick

Fritz Grasenick (born September 29, 1916 in Graz , Austria ; † February 28, 2003 ibid) was an Austrian chemist and internationally recognized expert in the field of electron microscopy .

Education

Fritz Grasenick studied at the Technical University in Graz and graduated in technical chemistry in 1938. He began working on his dissertation at the University of Heidelberg . Fritz Grasenick had to join the paratroopers and then returned to the Graz University of Technology as an assistant. Here he successfully completed his dissertation in 1943 ( on the magnetic susceptibility of oxygen adsorbed on active substances at −183 ° C ).

At the end of the war he switched to the private sector (Haack company in Vienna ) and was later brought back to the Graz University of Technology by Professor Gustav Jantsch. His task was to set up an electron microscope research center at the Physics Institute, which began working under his direction from 1950–1951. This period also drops a longer stay in the development laboratory of Siemens & Halske in Berlin, where he not only met the latest developments, but also later important close contacts with pioneers of electron microscopy, as Ernst Ruska , Bodo von Borries and Manfred von Ardenne was able to make .

research

The institution of a “Research Center for Electron Microscopy” at the Technical University in Graz, initially run as a “one-man operation”, experienced an upward trend as a result of Fritz Grasenick's dedication and initiative, which began to cooperate with business at an early stage. In 1959 Fritz Grasenick established the association for the promotion of electron microscopy and fine structure research with the support of the then Styrian governor Josef Krainer senior . Fritz Grasenick headed the Center for Electron Microscopy Graz (ZFE) established by the association until his retirement in 1981. Fritz Grasenick was also head of the "Research Center" and the Research Institute for Electron Microscopy and Fine Structure Research at the Graz University of Technology for many years.

With the support of the Province of Styria , Fritz Grasenick succeeded in planning and financing the construction of the new institute building at Steyrergasse 17, which opened in 1965. The Center for Electron Microscopy Graz has found the spatial prerequisites for its further development here to this day. In 1972 Fritz Grasenick was appointed real councilor in recognition of his scientific achievements.

Services

Fritz Grasenick was one of the first in German-speaking countries to not only develop the field of electron microscopy methodically, but also to successfully use electron microscopy for problems in applied research. He recognized the importance of sample preparation in electron microscopy at an early stage and therefore concentrated his scientific work on the development of new preparation methods for various material classes, which subsequently opened up broad areas of application in science and technology. Fritz Grasenick used the vapor deposition of thin amorphous carbon layers in electron microscopy for the first time worldwide (1952).

With his scientific and organizational achievements, Fritz Grasenick has significantly shaped the development of electron microscopy and has found recognition throughout Europe for this. Fritz Grasenick was president of the Austrian Vacuum Society in 1978 and 1979 and chairman of the Austrian Society for Electron Microscopy (ASEM), which has been awarding the Fritz Grasenick Prize for Electron Microscopy every year since 2007 to commemorate its achievements. For years he also worked as a board member on the further development of the cooperative research institutes of the Austrian economy (today: Austrian Cooperative Research , ACR).

Fritz Grasenick has received numerous honors and recognitions, such as the title of Baurat hc for outstanding achievements in the technical and scientific field.

Works (selection)

• F. Grasenick, A. Probst, M. Ratzenhofer: Electron microscopic examination of pathological foci of calcification in human tissue. Monthly books f. Chemie 83 (1952) 1062-68.
• F. Grasenick, R. Haefer: For the electron microscopic examination of surfaces with the help of carbon shells. Monthly books f. Chemie 83 (1952) 1069-82.
• F. Grasenick, H. Waltinger, E. Jakopic: Metal coating of non-conducting materials in scanning electron microscopy. Natural Sciences 59 (1969) 413.

swell

• TUG Print, edition 006 (2003) p. 19.
• Performance Report 1999/2000, Research Institute for Electron Microscopy, Graz University of Technology (2001) Graz.
• The Steirerblatt (1951).