1973

Otto Hromatka

Everyone lives with Otto Hromatka, whether at home or in the office. Vinegar is an ingredient for salad dressing as well as a versatile cleaning agent. Around 1949, the chemist developed the submerged process; all process parameters are precisely controlled and automated – a high level of efficiency is guaranteed. Even today, industrial vinegar production worldwide runs almost exclusively according to this technique.

After studying chemistry in Vienna, Hromatka initially worked as a research assistant, then moved to the Polish enamel factory Olkusz and the pharmaceutical company Merck in Darmstadt. From 1942 he was a lecturer in organic chemistry at the University of Vienna, becoming an associate professor in 1951, full professor in 1963, and then director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry.

The Austrian Academy of Sciences awarded him the Rudolf Wegscheider Prize in 1951, and in 1974 he received the Austrian Decoration of Honor for Science and Art. Hromatka was vice president of the Association of Austrian Chemists.

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