Otto Petersen

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Otto Friedrich Petersen (born January 13, 1874 in Eschweiler ; † December 27, 1953 in Düsseldorf ) was a German ironworker.

Life

After attending grammar school in Aachen, studying metallurgy at RWTH and doing military service as a one-year volunteer, Otto Petersen took on a position as a designer and metallurgical engineer in the steelworks of Youngstown and Sharon in the USA for about two years. He became a member of the Corps Delta in Aachen . In 1901 he switched to the Rendsburg steel and rolling mill as a production engineer. In 1906 he received his doctorate at RWTH with Fritz Wüst as Dr.-Ing. (Dissertation topic: Contribution to the influence of silicon on the iron-carbon system ). In the next year he joined the Association of German Ironworkers (VDEh), whose deputy managing director he was appointed. In 1917 he became the general manager and shortly thereafter a member of the executive board. Petersen founded numerous technical committees, including the Blast Furnace Committee in 1907. From 1911 he was editor of the club magazine Stahl und Eisen . On his initiative, the KWI for Iron Research was founded in Düsseldorf in 1917 , the publication of which he created the Archives for the Iron Industry. He worked closely with the leaders of the German steel industry such as Friedrich Springorum and Albert Vögler .

On his initiative, the Society of Friends of Aachen University was founded in 1918 , of which he was treasurer for many years. In 1920 he was also involved in the establishment of the Helmholtz Society for the Promotion of Physical and Technical Research . There he became managing director. After the Second World War he was one of the initiators of the Society for Super Microscopy .

Petersen supported the National Socialists after 1933 and was " Wehrwirtschaftsführer ". During the Second World War , he acted as the head of the main management of the main ring of iron production at the Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production . In 1948, because of these activities, his right to stand as a candidate was revoked.

Petersen, who was chief executive officer of the VDEh in 1945, was commissioned in summer 1945 by Colonel Waring, head of the metallurgy branch of the British military government , to set up a semi-official German administrative organization for West German iron producers and processors. It was founded in November 1945 as the Administrative Office for Steel and Iron (VSE). Until it was converted into an authority in June 1946, the VSE was headed by Petersen, who at the same time retained the chairmanship of the VdEh.

Awards

  • 1920, appointed honorary citizen of RWTH Aachen
  • 1926, award of an honorary doctorate to a Dr. mont. E. h. of the Montanistische Hochschule Leoben
  • 1931, award of the VDI honor mark
  • 1944, awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science
  • 1944, appointed honorary senator of RWTH Aachen
  • 1947, made an honorary citizen of the Clausthal mining academy
  • 1948, award of an honorary doctorate to a Dr.-Ing. E. h. of the RWTH Aachen
  • In Düsseldorf, Otto-Petersen-Strasse was named in his honor.
  • In Aachen, the Otto-Petersen-Haus, a student residence run by the Aachen Student Union, was named after him.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Address list of the Weinheimer SC. Darmstadt 1928, p. 14.
  2. ↑ a b Stefan Krebs: Technical science as social practice. On the power and autonomy of the Aachen Metallurgy 1870–1914. (= Quarterly for social and economic history - supplements. 204). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, p. 335
  3. ↑ Helmut Maier: Chemists in the “Third Reich”. The German Chemical Society and the Association of German Chemists in the Nazi regime. John Wiley & Sons, New York 2015, p. 188.
  4. ↑ a b Newspaper Studies. Volume 19. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1944, p. 49.
  5. ↑ Werner Bührer: Ruhrstahl and Europe. The Iron and Steel Industry Association and the Beginnings of European Integration 1945–1952. Walter de Gruyter, 1986, pp. 38-39.
  6. ↑ a b Gloria Müller: Codetermination in the post-war period. British occupying power, entrepreneurs, unions. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1987, p. 51.
  7. ↑ Dietmar Petzina, Walter Euchner: Economic Policy in the British Occupation Area 1945–1949. Patmos, Düsseldorf 1984, p. 211.
  8. ↑ Erich Kothe : On becoming and working of the VDI . In: VDI-Z. tape 98 , no. 14 , May 11, 1956, pp. 665 .
personal data
SURNAME Petersen, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Petersen, Otto Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ironworker
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Eschweiler
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1953
Place of death Dusseldorf