Eugen Glueckauf FRS (9 April 1906 – 12 September 1981) was a

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-born British expert on

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

Biography

Eugen Glückauf (later anglicised to Glueckauf) was born on 9 April 1906 in Eisenach, Germany, the son of Bruno Glückauf, a clothier, and Elsa Pretzfelder. At school, Glückauf was particularly adept at maths. His university training began at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

but he switched to the Technische Hochschule at Charlottenburg, where he graduated in 1930 and, after two years' research, he gained his doctorate ( Dr Ing). With the political and economic climate in Germany worsening, Glückauf left for England where, at first, life for him was not easy either. After failed first attempts, an introduction by Professor Freundlich at

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

led him to Professor F. A. Paneth, who was looking for an assistant at the Royal College of Science (Imperial College). The first research problem he tackled involved analytical determination of helium in air. This involved quantitatively separating helium and neon, present in air at four times the level. This was finally solved by a twelve-stage adsorption—desorption cascade. Paneth moved to Durham as professor of chemistry in 1938. Glückauf joined him, but for four months in 1940 was interned in the Isle of Man. Paneth helped secure his release, and provided him with a two-year grant from the

DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industri ...

. This enabled Glückauf to work on the ozone content in the atmosphere. In 1944 Glückauf was invited to join the Department of " Tube Alloys" – code for work on atomic energy – involving the use of

ion-exchange Ion exchange is a reversible interchange of one kind of ion present in an insoluble solid with another of like charge present in a solution surrounding the solid with the reaction being used especially for softening or making water demineralised, ...

and

gas chromatography Gas chromatography (GC) is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. Typical uses of GC include testing the purity of a particular substance, ...

to separate

isotope Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers (mass numbers) ...

s. In the following year he was awarded an MSc by the University of London. In addition to over 100 scholarly articles, he published ''Atomic Energy Waste'' in 1961; it became a standard reference. In addition to the topics already mentioned he contributed in the fields of radio chemistry and electrolyte solution chemistry. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1969.

Family

Eugen Glückauf married Irma Elise Auguste Trepper, also from Germany, in Surrey in 1934. In a ''Transcript of Manuscrpt Biographical Notes'' he recorded that "Early in 1935 I sent my wife a telegram: 'Can you learn English shorthand? You've got three days.' She did – just – and after that got a part-time job as Paneth's secretary, where she worked until 1938 when our daughter arbarawas born." Glueckauf (having by now anglicised his name) was given a Certificate of Naturalization in Durham on 14 May 1946; Irma received hers on the 17th. He died on 12 September 1981 and his wife on 3 September 1989, both in the village of Chilton, then in Berkshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glueckauf, Eugen 1906 births 1981 deaths British chemists Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of Imperial College London Academics of Durham University Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom People interned in the Isle of Man during World War II Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom