Herbert Eisner
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23 June 1921
Herbert Eisner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Herbert Sigmund Eisner 23 June 1921 |
| Died | 28 June 2011 (aged 90) |
| Occupation | British Army soldier |
| Nationality | British-German |
| Alma mater | University of Nottingham |
| Children | David Eisner |
Herbert Sigmund Eisner (23 June 1921 – 28 June 2011) [1] was a British-German scientist whose work led to high-expansion fire fighting foam. He was also a playwright.
He was born in Berlin.
His paternal grandfather knew the composer Richard Strauss, 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. The family lived near the Tiergarten (lit. Animal Garden) in central Berlin, and as a result often saw Joseph Goebbels walking to work. His aunt was Lotte H. Eisner, a German-French film critic, notably of German Expressionism, and a friend Leni Riefenstahl, the film director.
In 1936 he was sent to Buxton College, a boys' grammar school 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. He joined the British Army, taking the surname Evans, and was sent to Kerala where he repaired tanks, becoming a Staff Sergeant.
He later read physics at University College, Nottingham (the University of Nottingham).
Career
He worked for most of his life at the Safety in Mines Research Establishment (SMRE) in north-west Derbyshire 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 & Company (now called Kidde) bought the patents for high expansion foam.
Author
In the 1960s he wrote radio plays for BBC Radio 4 (the Home Service) and, in 1974 published a children's book, The Monster Plant