Karl Kordesch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Kordesch 2003

Karl Kordesch (born March 22, 1922 in Vienna ; † January 12, 2011 in Eugene , Oregon) was an Austrian chemist and inventor . He is considered to be the inventor of the alkaline battery .

Life

Karl Kordesch studied chemistry and physics at the University of Vienna and received his PhD in 1948. From 1948 to 1953 Kordesch was an assistant at the I. Chemical Institute of the University of Vienna. In 1953 Karl Kordesch came to the USA . From 1953 to 1955, Kordesch headed the battery division in the United States Army Signal Corps (via Operation Paperclip ), Fort Monmouth . With two employees who also came from Austria, he started at Union Carbide Corporation in Ohio in 1955 . He led two research groups, one dealing with the development of alkali-manganese cells and the other with fuel cells . During this time alone, he applied for 22 patents.

The Puch MS 25 with a hydrazine-air fuel cell developed by Karl Kordesch, can be seen today in the Technical Museum in Vienna.

Attempts have also been made to interest the automotive industry in fuel cell technology. But the demand was not great. In 1970 he himself equipped his own Austin A40 with a hydrogen fuel cell , since ammonia was too difficult to obtain, and used this vehicle for his private transportation needs for more than three years. The vehicle had space for 4 passengers and a range of approx. 300 km. He also equipped a motorcycle with a cell with hydrazine , with which he could cover approx. 100 km with 1 liter of hydrazine.

In 1977 he returned to Austria after early retirement at UCC and became head of the Institute for Chemical Technology of Inorganic Materials at the Graz University of Technology . In 1985/86 he was dean of the technical and natural science faculty at Graz University of Technology. In 1992 he retired from Graz University of Technology. In 1997 he became Vice President of Apollo Energy Systems, Inc. and was entrusted with the development of fuel cells.

From the beginning of the 1990s he supported the development of the working group and conference series "Energy Innovation" at the Technical University of Graz - a project under the direction of Kurt Friedrich, which is being continued by Heinz Stigler and organized every two years. Kordesch supported the successful series of events for many years by participating as a lecturer and expert, with his keen researcher spirit always putting new ideas on electrochemical storage up for discussion. The establishment of various research activities in the field of fuel cell technology at the Graz University of Technology was initiated by the cooperation between Karl Kordesch and Kurt Fridrich.

From 1981 to 1985 Kordesch was Secretary General of the International Society for Electrochemistry (ISE). In addition to 120 patents, which he was able to register over time, he also wrote numerous books and more than 200 publications, all of which are dedicated to the subject of "batteries".

Karl Kordesch was married and had four children.

Works (selection)

  • Use of fuel cell technology for decentralized energy use II , 1999, Karl Kordesch and Günter Simader
  • Fuel Cells and Their Applications , Karl Kordesch and Günter Simader, 2007 ISBN 3-527-29777-4
  • Batteries Volume 1 Manganese Dioxide New York 1974 ISBN 0-8247-6084-0 (in English)

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fuel cells in mobile use (PDF file; 1.1 MB)
  2. ^ Deans at TU Graz ( Memento from August 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ The history of TU Graz with all its institutes, faculties and personalities since 1811 . Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ Günter R. Simader - Energy Utilization Agency on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport Information and Technology: Research and Technological Development (FTE) of fuel cells for stationary energy systems and small devices , 2001
  5. ↑ TU Wien: Honorary doctorates ( memento of the original from February 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved March 26, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tuwien.ac.at

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kordesch, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian chemist and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 2011
Place of death Eugene , Oregon