Andras (Andrew) Keller FRS (22 August 1925 – 7 February 1999) was a naturalized

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

polymer scientist. He was Research Professor in Polymer Science, Department of Physics,

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, 1969–91, then

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Biography

Andras Keller was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, the only child of

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish parents. He entered the

University of Budapest A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

in 1943, and gained his BSc in chemistry cum laude in 1947. He began his PhD studies at the same university but his work was interrupted by the rapidly deteriorating political situation in Hungary in 1948. He fled to England, leaving behind a submitted but unexamined PhD thesis. He took a position with Imperial Chemical Industries in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, as technical officer in the Polymers Division, where he was given the task of working out how the physical structure of polymers affects crystallization. In 1955, he moved to the

Physics Department as Research Assistant, under

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, heading a team financed by the Ministry of Supply (later Ministry of Aviation). Here, he began to further develop his ideas on crystallisation, and obtained his PhD in 1958. Meanwhile, Keller had become a naturalized citizen of the UK in 1954 or 1955. A key part of his work at Bristol was his discovery in 1957 of chain folding in polymer crystals. The findings were not universally accepted however, and there was much debate between opposing camps for many years to come. It came to a head at a Faraday Discussion in Cambridge in 1979. It was an important meeting because “The arguments thereafter moved from whether one believed in regular chain folding, or in no chain folding at all, to issues of the degree of regularity of the folding under the specific conditions of solidification of a particular material.” Keller retired in 1991. The occasion was marked by a conference that year on polymer physics at Bristol.

Family

Keller met Eva Bulhack, a

Transylvanian Saxon The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ...

from Romania, in England. They married in 1951, and had two children: Peter and Nicola. Andrew Keller died of a heart attack on 7 February 1999 while on a skiing holiday in Switzerland.

Honours and awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Andrew 1925 births 1999 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society English Jews Jewish scientists Academics of the University of Bristol