Herbert Sigmund Eisner (23 June 1921 – 28 June 2011)
retrieved January 2018 was a British-German scientist whose work led to high-expansion

fire fighting foam Firefighting foam is a foam used for fire suppression. Its role is to cool the fire and to coat the fuel, preventing its contact with oxygen, thus achieving suppression of the combustion. Firefighting foam was invented by the Moldovan engineer a ...

. He was also a playwright.

Early life

He was born in Berlin. His paternal grandfather knew the composer

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

, his maternal grandfather founded Germany's first department store, the Grand Bazaar, in Frankfurt. His mother was a Wagnerian singer who knew the playwright

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

. The family lived near the Tiergarten (lit. Animal Garden) in central Berlin, and as a result often saw

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

walking to work. His aunt was Lotte H. Eisner, a German-French film critic, notably of

German Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

, and a friend

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, Film producer, producer, screenwriter, Film editing, editor, photographer, and actress. She is considered one of the most controversial ...

, the film director. In 1936 he was sent to Buxton College, a boys'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

in Derbyshire. His parents left Berlin in 1939 and moved to London. When war broke out he was sent to the Isle of Man, with future members of the

Amadeus Quartet The Amadeus Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1947 and disbanded in 1987, having retained its founding members throughout its history. Noted for its smooth, sophisticated style, its seamless ensemble playing, and its sensitive interpretat ...

. He joined the British Army, taking the surname Evans, and was sent to

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

where he repaired tanks, becoming a

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

. He later read physics at University College, Nottingham (the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

Career

He worked for most of his life at the Safety in Mines Research Establishment (SMRE) in north-west

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

until 1981.

Fire-fighting foam

In 1956 he carried out work on high-expansion foam to extinguish fires, which would lead directly to foam manufactured as a fire extinguishing agent. In 1964

Walter Kidde Walter Kidde (; March 7, 1877 – February 9, 1943) was an American businessman. He was the owner of the Kidde company which manufactured fire extinguishers. His parents immigrated to the United States from Bohemia. Kidde graduated from Steve ...

& Company (now called

Kidde Kidde () is an American multinational company that manufactures and distributes fire detection and suppression equipment, as well as smoke and CO alarm units. Kidde is one of America's largest manufacturers of smoke alarms and fire safety pro ...

) bought the patents for high expansion foam.

Author

In the 1960s he wrote radio plays for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

(the Home Service) and, in 1974 published a children's book, ''The Monster Plant''

Personal life

In 1948 he married Gisela Spanglet, who came to Britain aged 13 with the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children from Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...

, having met her at university in Nottingham. In 1951 they moved to Buxton. They had two daughters and two sons. One of the sons is a violinist with the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

, who married

Jessica Duchen Jessica Duchen is a British music writer, novelist, playwright and opera librettist. Life Born in London, Duchen studied music at Cambridge University. She was a classical music correspondent for ''The Independent'' for 12 years. She has written on ...

, a novelist and classical music journalist and writer, in 1989. One of his daughters became a GP,another Harriet,a regional officer for the UK’s biggest trade union, Unite.Another son, David Eisner, became a professor of physiology at the University of Manchester and married another physiologist, Susan Wray. Herbert Eisner died in Harrogate in 2011.

References

External links

His violinist son

His son BHF Professor Cardiac Physiology at the University of Manchester
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisner, Herbert 1921 births 2011 deaths Alumni of the University of Nottingham History of firefighting German emigrants to the United Kingdom People educated at Buxton College People from Buxton Scientists from Berlin English male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights Writers from Berlin British Army soldiers British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century English male writers