Prof. R. O. Herzog

Abstract

PROF. R. O. HERZOG, who died at Zurich on February 4, made himself a name by discovering the microcrystalline structure of cellulose. He and Scherrer found it simultaneously and independently, when irradiating different kinds of cellulose fibres with X-rays. This observation gave an enormous impetus to the investigation of fibres and organic substances of high molecular weight: twenty years ago, for example, no one would have dared to write down the structural formula of cellulose or to consider the rigidity of a macromolecule containing oxygen bridges, subjects of lively discussions at many scientific meetings nowadays. Herzog himself, then the head of the newly founded Kaiser Wilhelm-Institut fur Faserstoffchemie at Berlin-Dahlem, was most active in promoting this development, and his vivid imagination played from the beginning with ideas which have materialised in recent years. Michael Polanyi, Karl Weissenberg, Hermann Mark, Max Bergmann and Erich Schmid did research in his laboratory at Dahlem, and it was remarkable how successfully Herzog was able to collaborate with younger men.