TTh Uovvr
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Emil Heuser Honored by TAPPI A
STAFF
JL/u. Cellulose" has retired from his professorship a t the Institute of Paper Chemistry at Appleton, Wis., and, in tribute to his 30 years of leadership in the field of cellulose chemistry, the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry has awarded him its 1948 medal "for outstanding contributions to the technical advancement of the pulp and paper industry." The recipient of this accolade, more formally known as Emil Heuser, comes by his aptitude in paper technology naturally since he grew up in the old Hanse town of Straslund on the Baltic Sea next door to the playing card factory where his father was technical director. However, he very nearly escaped passing by the field in which he has proved eminent. As a young man he studied to be a painter, but among the brushes and pallets he found and soon married an attractive portrait artist named Friedel. Feeling overshadowed b y his wife's easy talent, "Milius" determined to enter a noncompeting field. Cellulose chemistry has been much benefited by this decision. Dr. Heuser has, however, retained a strong sympathy for the fine arts. His house at Appleton, strikingly designed by Dr. and Mrs. Heuser, will long be remembered as the scene of frequent musical soirees attended by musicians and music personalities of national reputation. Between art and music and cellulose, Dr. Heuser found time to develop a wicked forehand. Up until his fiftieth birthday he was an active tournament tennis player. Author
and
Editor
Dr. Heuser is a copious writer. Some of his most valuable contributions to cellulose chemistry have been in the organization and presentation of the available information in the field. The author of many technical papers, he published his first book, a textbook of cellulose chemistry, in 1921. This publication was so enthusiastically received that a second edition was printed within two years after its first appearance and in the same year it was translated into Russian and shortly thereafter into English. A third German edition appeared in 1927. During this period Heuser founded the periodical Cellulosecheniie. In 1920 he had begun editing a new section of Der Papierfabrikani under that title. I t s quick popularity warranted independent publiV O L U M E
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cation and the section soon seceded from the parent journal to become a separate publication. Heuser edited Cellulosechenvie until 1926 in addition to retaining the position of technical editor, of Der Papzerfabrikant. H e also was the chief editor of the six-volume compendium published .in 1923 under the title of "Technik und Praxis der Papierfabdication'' and contributed chapters to several other books, notably one on xylan in Bauer's "Handwôrterbuch der Chemie," published in 1924. In 1944, his first book in English was published under the title "The Chemistry of Cellulose." Dr. Heuser says that one of the objectives of his recent retirement is "to write at leisure." Theory
tended the Technical University at M u nich. H e continued his studies at the· Tochnif-al University of Karlsruhe in Baden and t h e University of Graz in· Styria, Austria. A t both schools h e worked on sulfur-containing diphenyl dyesunder Eloland Scholl and ultimately o b tained fciis doctorate in 1909 for a thesis on. the syn.~thcsis of oxalomalonic acid esters.
of identical
Structure
T h e most important single contribution to t h e chemistry of cellulose made by Dr. Heuser is thought by many to be his theory, presented during the years immediately after the first world war, which stated that celluloses from all known sources have identical molecular structures when freed of all noncellulosic impurities. H i s more recent contributions have been in the chemistry and technology of the viscose rayon process and in developing a superior pulp for conversion t o rayon. This work was largely done during the period from 1926 to 1938 while Dr. Heuser held the position of director of research for the Canadian International Paper C o . at Hawkesbury, Ont. He was also instrumental in the development of the Thome multiple-stage chlorine bleaching system a t Hawkesbury. D r . Heuser left the Canadian organization, in March of 1938 to join the staff of the Institute of Paper Chemistry at Appleton to satisfy what he called an "unquenched thirst for academic activity." Here in an atmosphere of lecture rooms and research laboratories he found time t o investigate m a n y fundamental problems which he had been forced to neglect in t h e past and to collect his newest findings into "The Chemistry of Cellulose." D r . Heuser's colleagues know him a s "a gentleman and a scholar" in the best old world tradition. His affable manner, courtly courtesy, and rigorous mental discipline are ample evidence of his "old German" education. After graduation from a Straslund high school, Heuser atM A R C H
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Dr. Irleuser learned the paper businessfrom thie ground up. At the time t h a t he entered the field chemists were very rare in the industry and the master artisans \v3io supervised the processes were· notoriously distrustful of "bright youngmen with shiny sheepskins." Therefore,, upon graduation Heuser decided to forget about bus doctor's degree until he had a c quired some solid practical experience.H e spent one year as a voluntary workman· i n the coating machinery works of F . Muellczr in Potscha'ppel and then entered the paper industry proper in t h e small b u t well kiaown rag mill of Gebriider Laiblin in Wiitrttemburg. His first position as a mill chemist was with the pulp and p a p e r company of Altdamm in Pomerania, from which tne rapidly progressed to that of coating superintendent at the Zehlendorf mill in· Berlin ^and thence to that of chief chemist for the pulp and paper company ofSteyrerniiihl £.n Austria. His rapid rise during this pe=-riod brought him to t h e attention of the administration of the Technical University of Darmstadt, then the only institution of higher learning offering training i n pulp and paper technology. When 5 t became necessary to choose a new directo»r for the Institute of Cellulose Cherni=stry at that institution, Heuser w a s elected to the position which h e held from 1912 t o 1923, with a short absence during the first world war. During his tenure a t the institute he supervised t h e construction and operation of a pilot plant for t h e first successful commercial production of furfural by the hydrolysis of wood. KeiLser left the institute to become research director of the large rayon concern, VereinJgte Glanzstoff, A.G., near Berlin. I t w a s here that he began his intensive studies of the viscose process and rayon pulp. After three years in this position Heuseir left Germany for Canada to e s t a b lish a research department for the International Paper Co. and to continue h i s studies of rayon chemistry. After his long and varied career in mills and laboratories on two continents, D r . Heuseir expresses only one dissatisfaction with tlie s t u d y of cellulose; it is too noisy and soaelly. Apparently he still retains a sensitive esthetic sense from his earlier trainiog. Perhaps in the sunshine and quiet o f his present home in California he will be5 able t o purge the stench of the kraft mills f rom his nostrils and the crash of t h e bcater-s from his ears and settle down to finding out just how many grandchildren he does have at the latest count. 675
