Carl Auer von Welsbach: Chemist, Inventor, Entrepreneur

Roland Adunka was trained as a chemical laboratory technician at the company “Treibacher Chemische Werke” and then was educated at the Hamburger Fernlehrinstitut as chemical technician. He spent his career as a chemical technician and engineer at “Treibacher Chemische Werke” (now “Treibacher Industrie AG”), dealing with the chemistry and metallurgy of the rare earth elements, and was active in analytics, research, and operations management. At the request of the municipal community of Althofen, he started the construction of the “Auer von Welsbach-Museum” in 1996, which he has directed since its opening in 1998. In addition to supervising the Museum, he is also Librarian and General Archivist of the Auer von Welsbach papers in the Museum’s collection. He is the author of Carl Auer von Welsbach: Entdecker, Erfinder, Firmengründer, 2nd Ed. Verlag des Kärntner Landesarchivs: Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (AT), 2015, and of journal articles on the contributions of Carl Auer von Welsbach to a range of theoretical and practical applications.

Mary Virginia Orna is Professor of Chemistry at The College of New Rochelle with a Ph.D. from Fordham University in analytical chemistry. Her many publications have appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education, Color Research and Application, Studies in Conservation, Analytical Chemistry, Microchemical Journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry, American Chemical Society monographs, and various other journals. She has also authored numerous book chapters and encyclopedia articles, six books and edited or co-edited eleven others. Two of her books, The Chemical History of Color and Chemistry and Chemists in Florence: From the Last of the Medici Family to the European Magnetic Resonance Center, were published in the SpringerBriefs series in the History of Chemistry. She has won numerous awards for outstanding teaching and service.