Kurt Illig

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Kurt Illig (born July 8, 1894 in Frankfurt am Main , † April 18, 1945 in Freising ) was a German physical chemist.

family

Kurt Illig was a son of Johann Illig (1865–1922) and Martha (1871–1923). His father was a partner and manager of a Frankfurt electric motor factory and co-founder of the Elektro-Osmose Aktiengesellschaft (Graf Schwerin Gesellschaft) . The paternal grandparents were the businessman Johann Franz Franziska Klaeger, the maternal grandparents were the hotel owners Hermann Meyer and Dorothea Buerdorf. Illig himself married Gertrud Eisener (* 1898) from Hanover, with whom he had two sons.

Live and act

Illig studied chemistry in Frankfurt and received his doctorate in 1921 at Richard Lorenz Dr. phil. nat. He then worked in the Electrochemistry Department at Siemens & Halske in Berlin-Siemensstadt . In 1923 he moved to Georg Erlwein and headed all development laboratories at Siemens & Halske. He was part of the management of the electrochemistry department and management of Victor Josef Karl Engelhardt , where he was increasingly concerned with the business and, in particular, sales aspects of the company.

At Siemens & Halske, Illig was in charge of technical development, with a focus on process development. The specialist areas he was responsible for included, in particular, the study of the deposition conditions of chromium and the technical development of the chrome plating process. Together with Hellmuth Fischer , he developed an electrochemical process for the extraction of beryllium . Together with Reichmann, he tried to extract more sintered alumina ( sintered corundum ), which should be used as insulation at higher temperatures. He also worked on new methods for anodic oxidation of aluminum based on oxalic acid. A new anodizing process later developed from this , in which sulfuric acid was used as the electrolyte. For other projects he used the preliminary work of Otto Graf Schwerin, who had dealt with the drainage of peat and clay. As a result, processes for electroosmotic desalination were started again, from which apparatuses for electroosmotic water desalination resulted which have proven themselves in practical application over many years.

After Victor Josef Karl Engelhardt retired in 1932, Illig took over the management of the electrochemistry department in 1932. As a result, the focus of his work shifted to the commercial evaluation of electrochemical and electrothermal technology. Siemens & Halske became increasingly active abroad in these areas. Illig was considered unusually gifted at making contacts and thus played a decisive role in ensuring that his employer received important orders from Great Britain, Italy, Yugoslavia and France.

Illig guessed how World War II would end. Therefore, towards the end of the war, he considered which new areas of electrical material conversion could be tackled. He could no longer implement these plans himself, but died during an air raid.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Illig, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physical chemist
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH April 18, 1945
Place of death Freising