6th International Specialist Conference in Düsseldorf
Dr. Erwin Weinbrenner was born on 17. 01. 1906 in Ulm, Germany, and graduated from the Karlsgymnasium in Stuttgart in 1924. He completed his studies of chemistry at the University of Tübingen and the Technical University in Karlsruhe with a doctorate in 1932. After working as a research assistant, he joined the rubber department of the Leverkusen site of the then IG Farbenindustrie AG in 1934. From 1937 to 1945 he was head of the Applications Technology Department at the Buna plant in Schkopau, where he was particularly involved in problems relating to the standardization of synthetic rubber and its thermal plasticization. He then worked as a department head in the rubber and plastics department of Farbenfabriken Bayer in Leverkusen until his retirement in 1972. He was appointed head of department in 1964. He played a decisive role in the development of the technology for polyurethane chemistry, the opening up of the use of polyurethane elastomers and the development of elastic polyurethane foams and a high-pressure foaming technology used worldwide for the large-scale production of polyurethane foams.
The pioneering achievement of the award-winner is that he or she contributed significantly to the development of the technology of polyurethane foams and polyurethane elastomers. Through his thoughts and developments he created a foundation for a worldwide large-scale technical development of polyurethane plastics.