History of Technical Chemistry

The chair in its current form can be traced back to one of the founding fathers of Technical Chemistry in Germany, namely Franz Patat. In 1954, Wolfgang Borchert, then Dean of the Chemistry Department and a mineralogist and crystallographer, with the assistance of Walter Hieber and Stephan Goldschmidt, obtained approval from the ministry for the reappointment of the professorship in Chemical Technology, which had been vacant since the war. This allowed him to bring Franz Patat, who was the director of an institute in Hannover and already designated as rector, to Munich for the summer semester of 1955.

However, the roots of the Institute of Technical Chemistry extend much further back in time, all the way to the founding of the Polytechnic Institute in 1868, the predecessor of the Technical University (TU) Munich, which was later transformed into the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in 1970. Carl Stölzel was appointed as the first full professor of Chemical Technology in the founding year of 1868 and taught successfully until 1895. Successive professors took charge of the affairs of Technical Chemistry at the TU: Gustav Schulz (1896-1926), Karl Theodor Bucherer (1926-1934), Albert Wolfgang Schmidt (1934-1943), and finally August Albert (1946-1951), although he was more of an organic chemist and served in an acting capacity.

Under Franz Patat's leadership, Technical Chemistry in Munich experienced tremendous growth due to his remarkable talents and experiences gained in both academia and industry. This was also reflected in his diverse research interests and activities, with reaction kinetics and polymer chemistry emerging as his favorite areas. The institute was bursting at the seams, and it was only a matter of time and resources before it could be expanded. His tenure as rector of the then TU from 1962-64 came in handy for this purpose. During this period, in addition to major university policy initiatives, a decision was made to expand the institute structurally and in terms of personnel. This involved creating two new chairs, along with a very comfortable staffing level, to represent a fourth pillar alongside the classical chemistry disciplines of inorganic chemistry (AC), organic chemistry (OC), and physical chemistry (PC). Under his leadership as institute director, the institute was to be filled with three chairs in total. His chair became TC I, while the other two would follow in the coming years. In 1970, Kurt Dialer was appointed as the full professor for TC II, and three years later, Robert Kerber was appointed to the chair for Macromolecular Substances. Franz Patat remained in Munich continuously and held his chair until his retirement in 1972/73. Walter Nitsch succeeded him, taking office in the winter semester of 1977/78.

At Chair TC II, Prof. Dialer was followed by Professors Helmut Tiltscher, Erwin Killmann (acting), and Johannes A. Lercher (from the winter semester of 1998). Oskar Nuyken succeeded Prof. Kerber in 1992. In 2006, the chair was renamed the WACKER Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry upon the appointment of Bernhard Rieger. Kai-Olaf Hinrichsen was appointed to succeed Walter Nitsch at Chair I for Technical Chemistry on January 1, 2007.

Author: Dr. Rudolf Fick (former staff member of Chair TC I for Technical Chemistry) - Translated into English