Heinrich Mohn (engineer)

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Heinrich Mohn (born November 10, 1904 in Mainz , † February 3, 2003 in Gelnhausen ) was a German engineer , inventor and philanthropist .

Life, family

Heinrich Mohn was married and had a son and a daughter. He was a Christian and a member of the German Christian Technicians Association founded in 1904 . He died in 2003 in his adopted home Gelnhausen. His wife Irene died in 1971. Both were buried in Altenstadt-Enzheim in the Wetterau district , his wife's hometown.

Professional activities

Due to the air raids of the Second World War in July 1944 and on December 12, 1944, the industry in the city of Hanau was also destroyed. After the war, Heinrich Mohn played a key role in the rebuilding of this company as director of the Heraeus-Quarzschmelze company. Poppy had a total of 76 patents. They initially related to his work at Heraeus. Here, for example, the development of the original mountain sun is associated with his name. But Mohn also left traces of his inventive talent in other and different specialist areas . Among them is z. B. also a high-temperature resistant glass for space travel . With the help of extremely precisely ground prisms made of this material , large distances (between continents or to the moon) can be measured with high accuracy. Mohn was also involved in the development of the fiber optic cable . He has received many honors for his inventions. In 1959, at the suggestion of the Faculty of Chemistry and the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, the Technical University of Darmstadt awarded him an honorary doctorate (Dr. hc) for his services to the creation of high-quality quartz glasses . The laudation was given by Prof. Ulrich Hofmann , from the chair for inorganic chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

social commitment

Mohn was a committed member of the German Christian Technician Association. His inventions and patents made him fortune . These resources and his faith were the engine and drive for his charitable commitment. Contemporary witnesses describe him as: "... a charismatic person who spent his money helping other people in need." The way he personally got involved was particularly impressive: “He got homeless people , drug addicts and petty criminals off the street and took them in at his house. There he helped them find their way back to an orderly life, where people lived with him for weeks, sometimes even for months. "

Aftermath

With the naming of a street in the district of Hailer-Meerholz as Dr.-Heinrich-Mohn-Straße, the city of Gelnhausen set a sustainable monument to its electorate .

literature

  • Gelnhauser Tageblatt. March 13, 2015, p. 23.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Altenstadt cemetery directory
  2. ↑ Technische Universität Darmstadt, University Archives , UA inventory 201 No. 163
  3. ↑ a b Willi Hitzemann in the Gelnhäuser Tageblatt of March 13, 2015, page 23
personal data
SURNAME Poppy, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer, inventor and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 2003
Place of death Gelnhausen