Karl Kordesch
{{Short description|Austrian chemist and inventor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Karl Kordesch
| image = Karl_Kordesch_2003.JPG
| image_size =
| alt = Karl Kordesch California 2003
| caption = Karl Kordesch, 2003
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1922|3|18}}
| birth_place = Vienna, Austria
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2011|01|12|1922|3|18}}
| death_place = Eugene, Oregon, USA
| citizenship = Austria, USA
| nationality =
| fields = Alkaline battery, fuel cells, electric vehicles
| workplaces = Eveready, Union Carbide, Graz University of Technology, BTI, Apollo Energy Systems
| alma_mater = University of Vienna (PhD, 1948)
| doctoral_advisor =
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| known_for = Invention of alkaline battery
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = Wilhelm Exner Medal, 1967Editor, ÖGV. (2015). Wilhelm Exner Medal. Austrian Trade Association. ÖGV. Austria.
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| footnotes =
| spouse =
}}
Karl Kordesch (18 March 1922 – 12 January 2011) was an Austrian chemist and inventor, most notable for jointly inventing the alkaline battery. In 1953 he moved to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip.
Life
Kordesch was born in Vienna. He studied chemistry and physics at the University of Vienna, and earned his doctoral degree in 1948. From 1948–53 he worked at the university's Chemical Institute. He was then recruited as a member of Operation Paperclip and moved to the United States, where from 1953–55 he was head of the Battery Division of the U.S. Signal Corps in Fort Monmouth. In 1955 he joined Union Carbide in Ohio, working with two fellow Austrians. He led two research groups: one concerned with the development of manganese dioxide batteries, the other devoted to fuel cells. During this time Kordesch filed 22 patents.[http://www.wiley-vch.de/img/news/Pehnt_Kapitel04.pdf Brennstoffzellen im mobilen Einsatz] {{in lang|de}}
In 1957, Karl Kordesch, Paul A. Marsal and Lewis Urry filed US patent (2,960,558) for
the alkaline dry cell battery, which eventually became the D-sized Eveready Energizer battery. It was granted in 1960.[http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2960558.pdf US Patent 2960558]
Another fundamental contribution that changed the battery world was the creation of the thin carbon fuel cell electrode. He presented a fuel cell demonstration at the Brussels World Fair in 1958, using a suitcase with a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell. His development of thin electrodes for fuel cells came soon thereafter.
File:Puch MS 25 with hydrazine-air fuel cell, Technisches Museum Wien.jpg
In 1967 he built a fuel cell/NiCad battery hybrid electric motorcycle. The motorcycle was featured in television commercials for the program 21st Century, hosted by Walter Cronkite. He relished telling people how he had to join the actors' union to ride in the commercials. It was fitted with a hydrazine fuel cell, capable of 200 miles to the U.S. gallon.[http://www.ms11energy.de/img/technologie/bio_kordesch.pdf Biografie von Karl Kordesch]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{in lang|de}}[http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/media/pdf/surveys/2006-AFC-Survey.pdf Opening doors to fuel cell commercialisation: Alkaline Fuel Cells (AFC)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711054119/http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/media/pdf/surveys/2006-AFC-Survey.pdf |date=11 July 2011 }} Gemma Crawley, Fuel Cell Today, March 2006.
In 1970 he fitted his own Austin A40 with a hydrogen fuel cell (ammonia being too hard to come by), and used the adapted vehicle as his personal transportation for over three years. The vehicle retained enough room inside for four passengers and had a driving range of 180 miles. His fuel cell design provided the basis for the 40 kWh alkaline hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell for the General Motors Electrovan.
In 1977 he was granted early retirement by Union Carbide and returned to Austria, becoming director of the Institute for Inorganic Technology at the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz). From 1981–83 Kordesch was general secretary of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE).[http://www.ise-online.org/geninfo/1949-2005.php Presidents, General Secretaries and Treasurers of C.I.T.C.E and of the International Society of Electrochemistry] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617023334/http://www.ise-online.org/geninfo/1949-2005.php |date=17 June 2011 }} From 1985–87 he was Dean of the Science and Technology Faculty at TU Graz;[http://alumni.tugraz.at/netzwerk/personendetail.php?id=175 alumni TUGraz 1887] {{in lang|de}} in 1992 he became emeritus.
In 1997 he became vice-president of Apollo Energy Systems, and was tasked with the continued development of fuel cells. His research continued at TU Graz on fuel cell electrode performance, low-cost fuel cell stack design, propulsion fuel (NH3), and an ammonia cracker. He was gratified to see the electric car and the hybrid-electric make a comeback in his last years. He was 40 years early with the electric hybrid vehicles that he enjoyed building and driving.
In total he filed 120 patents, as well as producing numerous books and over 200 publications, all on the topic of batteries and fuel cells.
He died in Eugene, Oregon, in 2011.
Selected works
- Einsatz der Brennstoffzellentechnologie für die dezentrale Energienutzung II, 1999, with Günter Simader {{in lang|de}}
- Fuel Cells and Their Applications, with Günter Simader, 2007, {{ISBN|3-527-29777-4}}
- Batteries: Volume 1 – Manganese Dioxide, New York, 1974, {{ISBN|0-8247-6084-0}}
Distinctions
- 1967 Wilhelm Exner MedalEditor, ÖGV. (2015). Wilhelm Exner Medal. Austrian Trade Association. ÖGV. Austria.[http://www.wilhelmexner.org/ENGLISCH/liste.php Wilhelm-Exner-Medaille: All awardees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728191143/http://www.wilhelmexner.org/ENGLISCH/liste.php |date=28 July 2011 }}
- 1986 Technology Award (Vittorio de Nora Award) of the U.S. Electrochemical Society{{Cite web |url=http://www.electrochem.org/awards/ecs/recipients/v_denora_recipients.htm |title=Vittorio de Nora Award: Recipients |access-date=28 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202232642/http://www.electrochem.org/awards/ecs/recipients/v_denora_recipients.htm |archive-date=2 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}
- 1990 Erwin Schrödinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences[http://www-97.oeaw.ac.at/cgi-bin/stipref/web_preise?action=liste&preis=6 Preisträger und Preisträgerinnen des Erwin Schrödinger-Preises] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819194302/http://www-97.oeaw.ac.at/cgi-bin/stipref/web_preise?action=liste&preis=6 |date=19 August 2011 }} {{in lang|de}}
- 1990 Honorary doctorate from the Vienna University of Technology[http://www.tuwien.ac.at/ud/pers/05_Akademische_Wuerdentraeger.html Universitätsleitung, akademische Würdenträger: Ehrendoktoren] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101014181502/http://www.tuwien.ac.at/ud/pers/05_Akademische_Wuerdentraeger.html |date=14 October 2010 }} {{in lang|de}}
- 1992 Auer v. Welsbach Medal of the Society of Austrian Chemists[http://www.goech.at/HallOfFame/welsbach.shtml Träger der Auer von Welsbach – Medaille der Gesellschaft Österreichischer Chemiker seit 1948] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706092606/http://www.goech.at/HallOfFame/welsbach.shtml |date=6 July 2011 }} {{in lang|de}}
- 1992 Gold award from the state of Styria, Austria (Großes Goldenes Ehrenzeichen des Landes Steiermark)[http://www.landtag.steiermark.at/cms/dokumente/10550611_5076210/a2900919/880_2_Antwort.pdf Alle verliehenen Großen Goldenen Ehrenzeichen seit 01.01.1970 mit Stichtag: 05.12.2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307224153/http://www.landtag.steiermark.at/cms/dokumente/10550611_5076210/a2900919/880_2_Antwort.pdf |date=7 March 2012 }} {{in lang|de}}
.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/alk/alk2.htm Alkali Fuel Cell History]
- [http://www.electrochem.org/dl/ma/201/pdfs/0257.pdf History of Rechargeable Alkaline Cells]
- [http://eva.test.eva.ac.at/(nopubl,publ)/publ/pdf/fc_fahrz.pdf Biography of Karl Kordesch]{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{in lang|de}}
- [https://archive.today/20130126013308/http://profiles.incredible-people.com/karl-kordesch/ Biography of Karl Kordesch]
- [http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2011/01/karl_v_kordesch_was_a_pioneer.html Obituary]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kordesch, Karl}}
Category:20th-century Austrian chemists
Category:20th-century Austrian inventors
Category:Academic staff of the University of Graz