Harold Alan Bunger (1896 – August 15, 1941) was the head of

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

's chemistry department and the director of the

Georgia Tech Research Institute The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. GTRI employs around 2,400 people, and is involved in approximately $600 millio ...

(then known as the Engineering Experiment Station) from 1940 until his death in 1941. Bunger was a member of the

American Institute of Chemical Engineers The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineer ...

, the Georgia Academy of Science, was a member of professional fraternity

Alpha Chi Sigma Alpha Chi Sigma () is a professional fraternity specializing in the fields of the chemical sciences. It has both collegiate and professional chapters throughout the United States consisting of both men and women and numbering more than 70,000 mem ...

and honor societies

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

, and Pi Lambda Epsilon.

Early life

Bunger was born in

Eaton, Ohio Eaton is a city in, and the county seat of Preble County, Ohio, United States, approximately 24 mi (38 km) west of Dayton. The population was 8,375 at the 2020 census, down 0.4% from the population of 8,407 at the 2010 census. Eaton's ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree, a

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

degree, and a Ph.D., all from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech hired Bunger in 1927 as an instructor. He was promoted to head of the Chemical Engineering department in February 1940. Bunger was deeply involved in the creation of an industrial process for the economical production of

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

with help from researchers at the Engineering Experiment Station and the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

. Bunger had been involved in the creation of Georgia Tech's Engineering Experiment Station; after its first director,

W. Harry Vaughan William Harry Vaughan, Jr. (born February 9, 1900) was a professor of ceramic engineering at the Georgia School of Technology and the founder and first director of what is now the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Education Vaughan graduated from ...

, left for a higher-paying job at the Tennessee Valley Authority in December 1940, Bunger was named acting director of the station. Less than a year later, Bunger died suddenly on August 15, 1941 while visiting

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Legacy

Georgia Tech's Bunger-Henry building is named after Harold Bunger and Arthur V. Henry. Built in 1964, it houses part of Georgia Tech's Chemical Engineering program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunger, Henry 1896 births 1941 deaths Georgia Tech faculty Georgia Tech Research Institute people University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni People from Eaton, Ohio

Early life

Georgia Tech

Legacy

See also

References