Herbert Sigmund Eisner (23 June 1921 – 28 June 2011)
retrieved January 2018 was a British-German scientist whose work led to high-expansion

fire fighting foam Firefighting foam is a foam used for fire suppression. Its role is to cool the fire and to coat the fuel, preventing its contact with oxygen, thus achieving suppression of the combustion. Firefighting foam was invented by the Russian engineer a ...

. He was also a playwright.

Early life

He was born in Berlin. His maternal grandfather knew the composer

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

and had founded Germany's first department store, the Grand Bazaar, in Frankfurt. His mother was a Wagnerian singer who holidayed with the playwright

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

. The family lived near the Tiergarten (Animal Garden) in central Berlin, and as a result often saw

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...

walking to work. His aunt was Lotte H. Eisner, a German-French film critic, notably of

German Expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

, and a friend

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...

, the film director. In 1936 he was sent to Buxton College, a boys'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in Derbyshire. His parents left Berlin in 1939 and moved to London. When war broke out he was sent to the Isle of Man, with future members of the

Amadeus Quartet The Amadeus Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1947 and disbanded in 1987, having retained its founding members throughout its history. Noted for its smooth, sophisticated style, its seamless ensemble playing, and its sensitive interpretat ...

. He joined the British Army, taking the surname Evans, and was sent to

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

where he repaired tanks, becoming a

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, supervi ...

. He later read Physics at University College, Nottingham (the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

Career

He worked for most of his life at the Safety in Mines Research Establishment (SMRE) in north-west

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

until 1981.

Fire-fighting foam

In 1956 he carried out work on high-expansion foam to extinguish fires, which would lead directly to foam manufactured as a fire extinguishing agent. In 1964

Walter Kidde Walter Kidde (; March 7, 1877 – February 9, 1943) was an American businessman. He graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1897. He was the owner of the Kidde company which manufactured fire extinguishers. His parents immigrated t ...

& Company (now called

Kidde Kidde () is a brand and division of Carrier Global that manufactures and distributes fire detection and suppression equipment, as well as smoke and CO alarm units. Kidde is one of America's largest manufacturer of smoke alarms and fire safety p ...

) bought the patents for high expansion foam.

Author

In the 1960s he wrote radio plays for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

(the Home Service) and, in 1974 published a children's book, ''The Monster Plant''

Personal life

In 1948 he married Gisela Spanglet, who came to Britain aged 13 with the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

, having met her at university in Nottingham. In 1951 they moved to Buxton. They had two daughters and two sons. One of the sons is a violinist with the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, who married

Jessica Duchen Jessica Duchen is a British music writer, novelist, playwright and opera librettist. Life Born in London, Duchen studied music at Cambridge University. She was a classical music correspondent for the ''The Independent'' for 12 years. She has writt ...

, a novelist and classical music journalist and writer, in 1989. One of his daughters became a GP, and another son, David Eisner, became a Professor of Physiology at the University of Manchester and married another physiologist,

Susan Wray Susan C. Wray is professor of cellular and molecular physiology at the University of Liverpool. She also serves as the President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) and is president of the Federation of European Physiolog ...

. Herbert Eisner died in Harrogate in 2011.

References

External links

His violinist son

His son BHF Professor Cardiac Physiology at the University of Manchester
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisner, Herbert 1921 births 2011 deaths Alumni of the University of Nottingham History of firefighting German emigrants to the United Kingdom People educated at Buxton College People from Buxton Scientists from Berlin English male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights Writers from Berlin British Army soldiers British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century English male writers