Karl Leo Meissner
Karl Leo Meissner (1894-1934)
1934 Obituary [1]
DR.-ING. KARL LEO MEISSNER died on July 21, 1934, at the age of 40.
He was born on March 31, 1894, and was educated at the Mommsen Gymnasium in Charlottenburg. He left in 1912 and went to the Technische Hochschule in Berlin to study mechanical engineering but soon took up the study of metallurgy. His work was interrupted by military service, but he graduated in 1921 with a paper entitled "Ternary Alloys of Copper."
Dr. Meissner will always be associated with the discovery of the existence of age-hardenable light metals and with the development of Duralumin. His metallurgical research began in 1924 in the laboratories of Th. Goldschmidt A.G., Essen.
From 1924 to 1929 he was assistant at the Stoffabteilung der Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fur Luftfahrt, to investigate light metal problems, and his work particularly influenced the age-hardenable light metal alloys. Dr. Meissner contributed appreciably to the elucidation of the age-hardening process and gave much valuable information on the treatment and application of the technically important light metal alloys.
In 1926, Dr. Meissner became a lecturer at the Technische Hochschule, Berlin, in the department engaged in the study of light metals in machine construction, especially aircraft construction.
In 1928, Dr. Beck, Director of the Durener Metallwerke A.G., Duren, where Duralumin was first developed, approached Dr. Meissner, whose knowledge of the patent situation of light metals was as extensive as his scientific knowledge, to become Director of the Research Department of the Durener Metallwerke. Metallurgy has lost in him a light metal expert whose knowledge and experimental skill has added much to our knowledge. The Durener Metallwerke mourns a colleague beloved by all, and numerous members of the Institute of Metals will hold him in affectionate remembrance.
Dr. Meissner was elected a member of the Institute of Metals on March 8, 1926, and contributed several papers to the Institute's Journal.