Eric Baer, (born Erich Bär; July 18, 1932) is an American scientist and engineer known for his major research and educational contributions to polymer science and engineering. He is a leading pioneer in understanding the complex relationships between solid state structure, processing, and properties of
polymeric materials
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...
and systems.
Baer was born in , Hesse, Germany on July 18, 1932
. He was raised as an only child in a Jewish home by his parents, Arthur and Erna Baer (née Kraemer). His father and his father’s brother, Julius, owned a clothing and accessory store in Butzbach, Hessen, which was closed by the Nazis around 1937. Arthur was taken to the
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
concentration camp during
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
, the evening of November 8, 1938, and was luckily released in June, 1939, since the family had received permission to emigrate immediately to England. They traveled by boat from
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and arrived in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on August 28, 1939. The family was taken to London and survived the blitz. Baer was evacuated north to
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...
,
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...
in December 1940.
In 1956 Baer married Ana Golender, who was both a chemist and homemaker. Ana and Eric had two children, Lisa and Michelle, both of whom pursued professional careers, in law and medicine respectively. Ana died in 1995 after a long illness and in 1999, Baer married Professor
Ann Hiltner, a long time professional colleague. Hiltner, the first female chaired professor in the School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, passed away in 2010. In 2016, Baer married Jane Glaubinger. Jane served for many years as the Curator of Prints and Drawings at the
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
and is now retired.
Baer’s formal education began in the early spring of 1941 after the family’s move to England when he was approaching nine years of age. He entered elementary school and was placed in classes with six year-old children. He quickly skipped grades and was accepted into the prestigious
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
Dunstable Grammar School
Dunstable Grammar School was a grammar school in the market town of Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. Opened in 1888, it was closed in 1971.
The site is now home to residential flats and apartments.
Foundation
Dunstable Grammar School was esta ...
in the autumn if 1942. It was during his time at Dunstable Grammar School that his interest in science was stimulated. Baer and his parents moved to the United States in December, 1947. There they joined a large number of relatives who had the good fortune to leave Germany prior to the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Baer graduated from
Baltimore City College
Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a liberal arts focus and selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B.C.C. is the thir ...
(high school) in 1949. In 1951, Baer entered graduate school at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
majoring in organic chemistry. His first research was on the synthesis of intermediate compounds to mimic naturally occurring strained ring structures. After earning his M.A. in 1953, he was attracted by an opportunity in rapid heat transfer kinetics by dropwise condensation, and transferred to the
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
School of Engineering majoring in chemical engineering. Baer earned a Doctor of Engineering degree in 1957 and immediately joined E. I.
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
Polychemicals Division, at the Experimental Station in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
. He had no previous education or exposure to the field of polymer science and engineering. While at DuPont he learned for the first time the many aspects of
polymer science
Polymer science or macromolecular science is a subfield of materials science concerned with polymers, primarily synthetic polymers such as plastics and elastomers. The field of polymer science includes researchers in multiple disciplines includ ...
and
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
concentrating mainly on structure property relationships and small scale processing. This education in an advanced industrial setting served as the foundation for the remainder of his scientific career.
In 1962 he joined the engineering faculty at
Case Institute of Technology
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Res ...
(which is now
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...
.) His goal at CWRU was to develop a major program in advanced polymer education and research which, under his leadership, became the curren
Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering Today, Baer serves at CWRU as Distinguished University Professor and holds the Herbert Henry Dow Chair in Science and Engineering. Currently he is also the Director of CLiPS, th
Center for Layered Polymeric Systems.
Over the last twenty years, Baer has led a large team in the creation o
polymer layered systems Focus on bot
micro and nanolayered structureshas inspired the development of nove
gradient index lensesand superior layered
dielectric
In electromagnetism, a dielectric (or dielectric medium) is an electrical insulator that can be polarised by an applied electric field. When a dielectric material is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the mate ...
films for energy storage. Today, new layered systems are being developed under his direction for uses in food packaging, ballistic resistant layered structures, and security features.
Awards
Among his other notable awards, in 2018, he received the
Charles Goodyear Medal
The Charles Goodyear Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1941, the award is named after Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization, and consists of a gold medal, a framed c ...
of the ACS Rubber Division; he also received the James L. White Innovation Award (2016), and the William A. Fowler Award (2015). In 2014, he was received the Paul J. Flory Research Prize at the PolyChar World Forum in Advanced Materials, and in 2000, was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame. In 1996, he received the Paul J. Flory Polymer Education Award, he also was awarded an honorary doctorate by the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
(1993), and in 1991, he received the International Education Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers.
Selected publications
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References
External links
CWRU HomepageCWRU Department of Macromolecular Science and EngineeringCenter for Layered Polymeric SystemsMicro and nano-layered structuresNovel gradient index lensesEntry in the Plastics Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baer, Eric
1932 births
Living people
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Case Western Reserve University faculty
Baltimore City College alumni
Polymer scientists and engineers
German emigrants to the United States