Jörg C. Meyer is the official scientific glassblower of the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

.... Meyer was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and learned glassblowing from his father and grandfather, who both worked in the same trade. He traveled to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and blew glass for the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, before moving again to Southern California. He was hired at UC Irvine by chemist

Frank Sherwood Rowland Frank Sherwood "Sherry" Rowland (June 28, 1927 – March 10, 2012) was an American Nobel laureate and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His research was on atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics. His b ...

at the founding of the university in 1965, and worked with Rowland and

Mario J. Molina Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (19 March 19437 October 2020) was a Mexican physical chemist. He played a pivotal role in the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole, and was a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his rol ...

on their Nobel-prize-winning research on

ozone depletion Ozone depletion consists of two related events observed since the late 1970s: a lowered total amount of ozone in Earth, Earth's upper atmosphere, and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone (the ozone layer) around Earth's polar ...

. As well as making scientific equipment for chemists, physicists, and atmospheric scientists, his creations have included a glass

baseball mitt A baseball glove or mitt is a large glove worn by baseball players of the defending team, which assists players in catching and fielding balls hit by a Batter (baseball), batter or thrown by a teammate. Gloves are traditionally made of leather; b ...

for Ralph J. Cicerone and a non-functional glass

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

for UCI chemist Harold W. Moore. Meyer has also developed

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

machinery for drying and purifying solvents, replacing previous methods using glassware that had a tendency to shatter. While working at UC Irvine in 1967, Meyer and his wife Allison founded a small company, GlassContour (now Seca Solvent Systems), through which he commercialized this purification process. The Meyers sold GlassContour in 2004 and in 2010 founded a second company, JC Meyer Solvent Systems, which also sells Meyer's stainless steel purification systems.About us
JC Meyer Solvent Systems, retrieved 2015-05-15. As well as for his glass and solvent purification work, Meyer is known for his appearance in a ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' magazine photo in 1965, riding a 40-foot

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter feeder, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known Extant taxon, extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of . The whale shark holds many records for ...

as a professional diver in Australia.. He is also a falconer and has helped to rehabilitate injured birds of prey. In 2015, Meyer won the annual award for outstanding staff achievement of the UC Irvine Alumni Association..

References

External links

Science by Fire
12-minute video documentary by Matthew Cunningham, University of Southern California, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Jorg Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of California, Irvine people Glassblowers Immigrants to Australia Immigrants to the United States