11th International Specialist Conference in Düsseldorf
Professor Dr. Kurt C. Frisch, born on the 15th OL 1913 in Vienna, studied chemistry at the University of Vienna after completing his school education. He completed his studies with a doctorate in 1938. After a short period of work at the University of Brussels/Belgium in 1938/39, he worked as a Hopkinson scholar at Columbia University until 1944, where he received an M.A. degree in 1941 and a Ph.D. in 1944. He then worked in the chemical department of General Ele,ctric Co. in Pittsfield, Mass. / USA, until 1956. From 1952 to 1956 he held the position of deputy head of research at E. F. Houghton and Company in Philadelphia, Pa. / USA. In 1956 he joined Wyandotte Chemicals Corp. in Wyandotte, Mich. / USA, first as head of applied research until 1959 and then as head of polymer research and development until 1968. During this time in industry, he completed special training courses at Penn State University in 1953/54 and at Harvard University in 1965. After Frisch had already taught as an adjunct professor (lecturer) in the Department of Chemical Process Engineering at the University of Detroit, Mich./USA, from 1965 to 1968, he was appointed Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry of Polymers in 1968 and appointed Head of the Polymer Institute. He is a member of numerous scientific and technical associations and is on the advisory board of various scientific journals. In addition to his more than 100 technical articles, Frisch has been the author and co-author of numerous technical books. More than 40 patents bear witness to his intensive research activities.
This award is in recognition of the outstanding fundamental scientific investigations of polyurethane and isocyanurate foams and the furtherance of knowledge of this field by numerous publications and applications throughout the foam industry.