Robert Durrer (1890–1978) was a Swiss engineer who invented the

basic oxygen steelmaking Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, BOP, BOF, or OSM), also known as Linz-Donawitz steelmaking or the oxygen converter processBrock and Elzinga, p. 50. is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowin ...

process (the Linz-Donawitz process, named after the towns where the technology was commercialized). The process was successfully tested by Durrer in 1948. A team led by Dr Theodor Eduard Suess in Austria adapted the process and scaled it to industrial size, after which it was commercialized by VÖEST and ÖAMG.Smil, p. 97.

Career

Durrer graduated from the Royal Technical University of Aachen in 1915. He stayed in Germany and in 1928 accepted the chair of the Professor of Metallurgy at the Technical University of Berlin. From 1933 to 1939, during his time in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, Durrer supervised experiments on the new steel making technique. In 1943 Durrer returned from

to Switzerland and was appointed to the board of von Roll AG, the country's largest steelmaker. Durrer teamed up with Heinrich Heilbrugge and ran a series of experiments which established the commercial viability of basic oxygen metallurgy. In 1947 Durrer ordered a small experimental converter from the United States, and on 1 April 1948 Durrer and Heilbrugge produced their first oxygen-blown steel. In the summer of 1948 von Roll AG and two Austrian state-owned companies, VÖEST and ÖAMG, agreed to commercialize the Durrer process.Smil, pp. 97-98. Their commercial converter furnaces were put into operation in November 1952 (VÖEST in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

) and May 1953 (ÖAMG, Donawitz)Smil, p. 98. and temporarily became ''the'' leading edge of the world's steelmaking, causing a surge in steel-related research.Brock and Elzinga, p. 39. Unlike Europe, whose industrial capacity had been decimated by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, America had a large base of steelmaking capacity, and it was economic to retain, rather than replace, its capital stock. U.S. Steel and

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

nonetheless introduced oxygen steelmaking in 1964; by 1969, its tonnage surpassed that manufactured using the

Bessemer process The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation ...

. Japan became an early adopter and by 1970 produced 80% of its steel in Linz-Donawitz furnaces.Smil, p. 99. Durrer was a professor at ETH Zurich from 1943 to 1961. He edited and co-authored the multi-volume ''Metallurgie des Eisens'' (Metallurgy of Iron, or the "Gmelin-Durrer").

Honors and awards

Durrer's contribution to practical steelmaking was marked by the AIME Benjamin F. Fairless Award in 1966. etc. He was awarded the

Bessemer Gold Medal The Bessemer Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) "for outstanding services to the steel industry, to the inventor or designer of any significant innovation in the process employed in the manufact ...

by the British

Iron and Steel Institute The Iron and Steel Institute was an English association organized by the iron trade of the north of England. Its object was the discussion of practical and scientific questions connected with the manufacture of iron and steel. History The first mee ...

in 1957 and the Rinman Medal by the Swedish iron and steel industry in 1959. The annual Staudinger-Durrer Prize awarded by ETH Zurich commemorates Durrer along with

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner Hermann Staudinger.
Staudinger-Durrer Prize
'. ETH Zurich. Retrieved 2010-05-26.

Notes

References

* Smil, Vaclav (2006).
Transforming the twentieth century: technical innovations and their consequences, Volume 2
'. Oxford University Press US. . * Brock, James W.; Elzinga, Kenneth G. (1991).
Antitrust, the market, and the state: the contributions of Walter Adams
'. M. E. Sharpe. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Durrer, Robert Swiss metallurgists 1890 births 1978 deaths RWTH Aachen University alumni Technical University of Berlin faculty ETH Zurich faculty Bessemer Gold Medal