Richard Birthler

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Richard Birthler (born February 7, 1914 in Neuhäusel , Slovakia ; † June 15, 1991 in Schwedt ) was a German engineer and researcher .

Life

Birthler was born in Neuhäusel in 1914. From 1932 to 1936 he studied at the German Technical University in Brno . After his assistantship in Brno, he received his doctorate in 1939. After the Second World War he worked as a plant manager at the brown coal gasoline plant in Magdeburg . In 1947 he began to work as technical director in VEB "Otto Grothewohl" Böhlen. In 1963, Birthler was appointed head of the start-up staff for the first construction stage in the oil processing plant in Schwedt. The company is known today under the name PCK-Raffinerie GmbH. He was granted a number of privileges through this individual contract with the government. These included, for example, unusually high retirement salaries, the right to buy a car cheaply and without waiting, and the free choice of university places for all children. In his research work, Birthler concentrated together with József Varga (1891–1956) on hydrogenation technology for heavy petroleum fractions. The two succeeded in developing a process for the hydrogenative processing of topped off residues of heavy sulfur-containing petroleum . This process was patented under the name Varga process. He also examined the influence of platinum - catalysts in the reforming process, which promoted the use of these catalysts in the East German oil facilities. During his employment in the company until 1979, he was a production supervisor and scientific advisor to the plant management, accompanying the construction of the refinery site in Schwedt. Richard Birthler had three children, his eldest son is the former politician Wolfgang Birthler .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Employers' Association North chemistry eV, Association of the Chemical Industry Association, National Association Northeast (ed.): Chemists from A to Z A biographical lexical overview of the chemistry and its most important representatives in East Germany. Berlin, 2006, 2nd revised and expanded edition, p. 32.
  2. ↑ a b ChemieFreunde Erkner e. V .: Birthler, Richard . accessed on April 7, 2020.
  3. ^ Marianne Birthler : Half the country. Whole country. Whole life: memories . Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH Co KG, Berlin, 2014, ISBN 978-3-446-24413-9 .
personal data
SURNAME Birthler, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer and researcher
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuhäusel , Slovakia
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 1991
Place of death Schwedt