Bergius, Friedrich Karl Rudolf
Friedrich Karl Rudolf Bergius, 1884–1949, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Leipzig, 1907. In 1910, Bergius set up a laboratory to carry out his research and in 1914 transferred the operation to the Essen works of the firm Th. Goldschmidt A.G. After World War I, he assembled an international consortium of enterprises to collaborate with him. In 1921, he moved to Heidelberg, where he worked at both the Univ. of Heidelberg and I.G. Farbenindustrie A.G. Mannheim-Rheinau. Following World War II, he emigrated to Argentina, where he was a technical research adviser to the government until his death in 1949. Bergius shared the 1931 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Carl Bosch for their contributions to the invention and development of chemical high-pressure methods. He is credited with developing the Bergius Process, a method of producing liquid hydrocarbons for use as a synthetic fuel via hydrogenation of lignite coal at elevated temperature and pressure. Bergius also investigated the conversion of wood into sugar and of sugar into other food products, thereby helping to meet Germany's food needs during World War II.