Herbert Berg (chemist)

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Herbert Karl Dietrich Berg (born October 26, 1905 in Lüdenscheid ; † October 5, 1988 in Munich ) was a German chemist who is considered the inventor of Wacker PVC , and was chairman of the board of directors of the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

Life

Herbert Berg, born in Lüdenscheid in 1905, was the son of the successful factory owner and entrepreneur Carl Berg , who, as the owner of Carl Berg Kupferhütte AG, also distinguished himself as a pioneer in large-scale aluminum processing. Carl Berg also got involved in the construction of airships early on, together with David Schwarz and Ferdinand von Zeppelin . Parts for the first Zeppelin were produced in Berg's factory in Werdohl .

Herbert Berg completed his secondary education in 1924 at the secondary school Lüdenscheid. From Easter 1924 to March 1925 he was then enrolled at the University of Tübingen to study chemistry . From March 1925 to July 1928 he studied organic chemistry at the Technical University of Munich , where he obtained his diploma . From February 1929 until August of the following year he worked as an extraordinary assistant to Nobel Prize winner Hans Fischer at the TH Munich. In 1930 he completed his thesis The synthesis of the natural pyrro porphyrin and certa isomers at Hans Fischer with subsequent promotion to Dr. Ing. With distinction.

From February 1, 1931 to 1933, he worked at the Consortium for Electrochemical Industry, Munich, the research department of Dr. Alexander Wacker Society for the Electrochemical Industry , in the then new field of vinyl compounds . In 1933 Berg was transferred to the Burghausen plant by the Consortium in order to promote the plastics sector there. In 1937 he was promoted to "Operations Manager Research and Production for Vinyl Compounds and Polymers" in Burghausen. From 1939, during the Second World War , Wacker GmbH, classified as essential to the war effort, expanded. Berg's developments in particular led to a branch of production in 1941 that made it necessary to build a new plant (the so-called “West Plant”) in Burghausen. As a pioneer in the field of research, Berg was therefore considered to be indispensable in order to guarantee the maintenance of certain operational processes.

After the end of the war and a short break in employment as part of the denazification process by the military government of the occupying power USA , Berg returned to his home town of Lüdenscheid. In the period from 1946 to 1952, he took care of the family businesses there. In 1952 the Wacker company called him back and from January 1, 1953 he worked in the Munich headquarters as the managing director responsible for the technical area .

In 1954, he began to work for the Deutsches Museum in Munich when he was elected to the administrative committee , which is now holding his father's estate and its own estate. He remained on the administrative committee until 1960, when he was elected a member of the museum's board of directors. From 1968 to 1980 he was chairman of the administrative board and the executive board of the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

On July 15, 1971, Berg resigned six months before his actual contract expired as a senior member of the three-person management team at Wacker Chemie GmbH. He and his colleague, managing director Heinz Wacker, fell victim to a “family quarrel” and “solid business policy”. Die Zeit reported at the time that Berg had been accused of “having been on the 'wrong side' the whole time” ”.

From 1980 to 1987 he was a member of the administrative board of the Deutsches Museum. Berg's appointment to the board of trustees of the Georg Agricola Society for the Promotion of the History of Natural Sciences and Technology eV took place in 1981. Shortly before his death on October 5, 1988 in Munich, he had been made an honorary member of the Deutsches Museum. Berg was also chairman of the Senate of the Fraunhofer Society , member of the main committee of the Association of the Chemical Industry , member of the Bavarian State Commission for the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Power and Vice President of the German-Japanese Society .

research

Herbert Berg, supported by two employees, developed a polymerization process in the 1930s that made it possible for the first time to adjust the viscosity of the polymeric emulsion as required. It was patented in 1938 . The main application is in the production of wood glue . Berg was involved in the development of further patented manufacturing processes for Wacker Chemie. His specialty was vinyl plastics. With the suspension process he developed for the production of PVC , around 80% of plastic is still produced today.

The chemical company recognizes Herbert Berg on its website as "a capacity in the field of vinyl plastics". The PVC obtained through his discovery in 1935 had been "the growth engine" of the company for decades.

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Herbert Berg Scholarship. To Herbert Berg. In: deutsches-museum.de. Deutsches Museum, Munich, accessed June 18, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Sophia Grunert: NL 220 Berg, Herbert (1905–1988). (PDF; 55 kB) I. Berg's biography. In: deutsches-museum.de. Deutsches Museum, Munich, July 2016, accessed on June 18, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g NL 220 Berg, Herbert. (PDF; 84 kB) 1. Biographical documents. 1.1. Biographical documents on Berg. In: deutsches-museum.de. Deutsches Museum, Munich, May 12, 2017, accessed on June 18, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e Redaktionsbüro Harenberg: Knaurs Prominentenlexikon 1980. The personal data of celebrities from politics, economy, culture and society . With over 400 photos. Droemer Knaur, Munich / Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-426-07604-7 , Berg, Herbert Karl Dietrich, p. 37 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Karen Königsberger: "Networked System"? The history of the Deutsches Museum 1945–1980 presented in the chemistry and nuclear physics departments (=  historical sciences . Volume 22 ). Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8316-0898-0 , Chapter 1.3.3 Herbert Berg (1969–1980), pp. 55 f .
  6. ↑ a b c d e pioneers. Dr. Herbert Berg. In: wacker.com. Wacker Chemie AG, accessed on June 18, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Helmut Gruber (Ed.): Ridge walks. Memoirs of Wolfgang Gruber (1886–1971). Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2018, p. 506.
  8. ↑ Peter-Alexander Wacker (Ed.): People, Markets, Molecules. The Wacker Chemie formula for success, 1914–2014. 2nd Edition. Piper Verlag , Munich 2014, p. 81. - Full text online (PDF; 36.3 MB) .
  9. ↑ Second World War and a new beginning. In: wacker.com. Wacker Chemie AG, accessed on June 18, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Dietmar Grypa : Foreign workers and prisoners of war in the Burghausen plant of Dr. Alexander Wacker Society for Electrochemical Industry (1940–1945). Burghauser Geschichtsblätter Vol. 55. Verlag des Stadtarchiv, Burghausen 2014, p. 3ff. Includes a 1940 photo by Herbert Berg.
  11. ↑ The General's Coup. Family dispute over Munich's Wacker-Chemie. In: zeit.de. August 6, 1971, accessed on June 18, 2018 (only accessible after free registration).
  12. ↑ A binding agent connects the world. In: wacker.com. Retrieved June 18, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Named after Oskar von Miller (1855–1934).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Berg, Herbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berg, Herbert Karl Dietrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and chairman of the board of directors of the Deutsches Museum
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludenscheid
DATE OF DEATH 5th October 1988
Place of death Munich