Richard Henke

Richard Henke (1 February 1900 in Korneuburg – October 1963, in Vienna) was an Austrian chemist and inventor.

Richard Henke originally came from a wealthy family of silk manufacturers in the Kingdom of Saxony.

The family belonged to the educated middle class and lived in a town villa in Korneuburg, which was destroyed in bombing raids during the Second World War.

Henke graduated from the Vienna University of Technology as a diplom-engineer and then as a Doktoringenieur.

In the 1920s, various treatises on Molecule Relationship were co-authored with Georg Weissenberger and Fritz Schuster.

These scientific papers were published in scientific journals such as Journal of Applied Chemistry, Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie and the Chemisches Zentralblatt published.

His work has been published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna mathematics and science class.

Richard Henke was until his leave of absence about political reasons by the National Socialists Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Technical University.

In the late 1930s and 1940s he worked as a chemist at Wander AG in Vienna.

He was able to pursue this employment despite his former Heimwehr activity even in the Nazi period.

He was able to escape deportation to a concentration camp because of his high reputation as a chemical specialist.

During his time at Wander, Henke also worked on the further development of the malt beverage Ovomaltine.

After World War II Richard Henke directed the Evening School for Chemistry at the Viennese highschool HTL Ottakring, HTL Schellinggasse.

Thereafter, Henke worked at the Higher Federal Education and Research Institute for the Chemical Industry Vienna in the research areas "Chemistry and Chemical Technology".

He was in charge of the operational laboratory at the departments of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering and was the administrator of the chemical-technical laboratory.

Henke also developed a shoe polish, which did not go into production.

Richard Henke married on September 15, 1957 at Ober St. Veit to Adele Havlicek (1912-1992 in Vienna Hietzing).

Progeny (selection):

In 1963, shortly before his death, he was appointed director of the Higher Federal Education and Research Institute for the Chemical Industry.

This function, however, he could no longer compete due to a sudden heart attack that led to death.

Richard Henke was buried in the family grave on Ober Sankt Veiter Friedhof.