Karl and Erna Kordesch Papers, 1906-2011

Timeline for Karl and Erna Kordesch

1922 Kordesch is born on March 18, 1922 in Vienna, Austria.
Erna Bӧhm is born on September 8, 1922 in Reichenau, Austria.
1940 Kordesch begins his first year at the University of Vienna.
1941 Kordesch is conscripted into the German Armed Forces, interrupting his studies at the University of Vienna.
1944 Kordesch is wounded while serving in Russia.
1945 Kordesch is released from military service at the end of World War II, having attained the rank of Lieutenant Battery Leader.
1946 Kordesch and Erna Bӧhm are married on June 22, 1946.
Kordesch returns to the University of Vienna to complete his studies.
1947 Johanna Kordesch, Karl and Erna's first child, is born on February 24, 1947 in Vienna, Austria.
1948 Kordesch receives his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Vienna.
Kordesch works as a University Assistant at the University of Vienna until 1953.
1949 The second Kordesch child, Albert, is born on August 15, 1949 in Vienna, Austria.
Kordesch accepts a part-time consulting position for Wiener Isolierrohr, Batterie, und Metallwarenfabrik, a battery manufacturer located in Vienna while continuing to work at the University of Vienna.
1953 As a part of Operation Paperclip, Karl Kordesch is invited to join the U.S. Signal Corps.
Kordesch and his family move to the United States and Karl begins work as scientific staff member of the U.S. Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
1954 Catherine Kordesch, the third Kordesch child, is born on January 24, 1954.
1955 Kordesch accepts a position as Battery Group Leader at the Union Carbide Corporation Research Laboratory in Parma, Ohio.
1956 The fourth Kordesch child, Martin, is born on July 22, 1956.
1957 Kordesch and two colleagues file for a patent of the alkaline dry cell battery which would ultimately become the Energizer D-cell.
1962 Kordesch is appointed group leader of the Fuel Cell Section of the Corporate Development Department at Union Carbide.
1967 Kordesch receives the Wilhelm Exner Medal from the Austrian Association of Small and Middle-Sized Enterprises.
Kordesch constructs a hybrid electric motorcycle using a hydrazine fuel cell.
1969 Kordesch returns to the Consumer Products Division of Union Carbide as a Senior Research Associate.
1970 Kordesch retrofits an Austin A40 sedan to run on a hydrogen fuel cell, making it the first practical hydrogen-fueled car ever produced. This vehicle served as his primary means of transportation for the following three years.
1973 Kordesch is appointed Union Carbide Research Fellow.
1977 Kordesch takes a position as full professor at the Graz University of Technology and director of the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry.
1981 Kordesch begins a five-year term as Secretary General of the International Society for Electrochemistry.
1985 Kordesch is appointed Dean of the Science and Technology Faculty at the Graz University of Technology, a position in which he serves until 1987.
1986 Kordesch is awarded the Vittoria de Nora Gold Medal for outstanding achievement by the U.S. Electrochemical Society.
Battery Technologies, Inc. is founded by Karl Kordesch and Wayne Hartford.
1988 Kordesch & Associates Inc. is founded by Karl as an electrochemistry consulting firm.
1990 Kordesch receives the Erwin Schrödinger Prize from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
1991 Kordesch receives the Frank M. Booth Prize of the Royal Society of Great Britain.
1992 Kordesch retires from the Graz University of Technology and the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry.
Kordesch is awarded the Auer V. Welsbach Medal.
1996 Kordesch and Günter Simader publish Fuel Cells and Their Applications.
1997 Kordesch becomes vice-president of Apollo Energy Systems where he was responsible for overseeing further development of the company's line of fuel cells.
2009 Kordesch is recognized by the American Chemical Society for fifty years of service.
2011 Kordesch dies on January 12, 2011 in Eugene, Oregon.

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