Erich Bäder

Biography

 Erich Bäder is considered to be the founding father of polymer chemistry at Degussa, today the Chemicals Business Area of Evonik. Born in 1922 in Schorndorf, he studied chemistry in Stuttgart after WWII and in 1951 was awarded his doctorate under Prof. Hellmut Bredereck at the Institute for Organic Chemistry and Organo-chemical Technology. His dissertation was on “Derivatives of aromatic sulfinic acids and their use in initiating polymerization.” During this time, he also worked on the development of a new fast-reacting hardener for filling teeth based on methyl methacrylate for the Degussa holding Kulzer & Co. The result of this research was the dental plastic PALAVIT F®.  On September 1, 1952, Bäder joined the Chemistry research group at the Wolfgang branch of the Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheideanstalt (as from 1980: Degussa AG). There he worked on the development of catalysts and their application in different types of polymers. At that time, the company had its own preliminary components for polymer chemistry - acetone cyanohydrine and formaldehyde - but had no expertise in the area. Bäder's research was to change this. After he switched from research to plastic processing in 1959, he was appointed manager of the Polymer Research Chemistry unit. In this position, he was in charge of research into and development of polymethyl methacrylate, polyformaldehyde, polyacrolein and lactam polymerization. 

Research Interest

 Chemistry