Hannu Viljami Paulapuro

Hannu Viljami Paulapuro was born in Rauma, Finland on January 7, 1947. He received his Master of Science degree in 1971 and his Doctor of Technology in 1979, both from Helsinki University of Technology with a major in Paper Technology and a minor in Applied Mathematics.

After receiving his Master’s degree, Paulapuro joined Jaakko Poyry Oy, where he worked until 1984. During this period, he held different positions related to paper technology and process development. From 1981-1984 he worked in the United States where he gained much experience on paper machine diagnostics. These were clearly very influential years for Paulapuro, as he often emphasized the importance of international work in one’s career.

In 1984, Paulapuro joined KCL (The Finnish Pulp and Paper Institute) and also started lecturing paper technology subjects at Helsinki University of Technology. He continued to hold dual positions at these locations for more than two decades and was often known for working seven days a week to carry his high workload.

In 1990, Paulapuro became full professor of paper technology at the Helsinki University of Technology. He was a legendary figure and one of the most productive professors at the university. He taught and guided the research of about 350 Masters of Science students and about 50 Licentiate and Doctoral students. Many of his students have gone on to prestigious careers in the forest products industry. The education and research programs he started became the pioneering programs in Finland’s internationalization efforts. His core values in scientific excellence, strong industrial connections and an international perspective have been imprinted on huge numbers of European paper industry professionals.

Paulapuro is best known for his love for research and many contributions to paper science. For example, his work on process diagnostics, mechanical pulping, wet pressing and fiber and paper physics is still recognized today. His work has been widely published in large number of Journals and Conference publications. The book series he edited, “Papermaking Science and Technology”, is still in wide use today.

Professor Paulapuro retired in 2010 but continues to mentor students and facilitate paper science in various committees and boards.

Ernst Richard Behrend

Ernst Richard Behrend was born in Koeslin, Germany on March 29, 1869. He received his ME degree from Charolottenburg Polytechnic Institute, Berlin, Germany.In 1896, at age 27, Ernst arrived in America and began working as a draftsman for Pusey-Jones Company, a major producer of paper machinery, in Wilmington, Delaware. Six months later Pusey-Jones sent him to Nekoosa, Wisconsin to supervise the construction of a sulphite mill.After Ernst’s return from a visit to Germany, his father, Moritz, raised the capital and brought one million dollars investment for the new sulphite pulp and paper mill in America. This million-dollar investment was used to start the Hammermill Paper Company in Erie, Pennsylvania. Within two years, the company was placed in the hands of Ernst and his brother, Dr. Otto Behrend. Hammermill Paper was built it into a very successful company while Behrend served as president over its first 40 years.

Under his leadership, the company was able to establish a market for sulphite bond paper as a suitable substitute for high-priced rag paper. A key development was a patented rubber roll process for watermarking writing paper on high-speed machines. In 1912, Hammermill established a watermarked bond paper (Hammermill Bond) and supported it by a national advertising campaign. Hammermill was the first to establish a network of franchised merchants to market the Hammermill line for which twenty-nine of the oldest and finest paper houses were appointed to serve as its exclusive agents. Hammermill also created a knowledgeable sales force to work closely with these agents to meet customer needs. By the late 1920’s, Hammermill had about 80% of the market.

Ernst Behrend was noted for his sense of commitment and loyalty and his ability to inspire that in others. His management philosophy stressed the creation of a safe and healthy work environment, fair and humane treatment of workers, steady employment with adequate wages, and the opportunity for promotion from within.

Ernst Behrend died at the age of 71 years on September 22, 1940 in Erie County, Pennsylvania.

Erling Sven Lorentzen

Erling Sven Lorentzen was born in Oslo, Norway on January 28, 1923 as the son of a Norwegian commercial shipping line owner. In 1948, he received a Masters degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

During World War II, he was commander of a secret Norwegian resistance unit and after the war he became body guard for the royal family. In 1953, Lorentzen settled in Brazil with his wife Princess Ragnhild of Norway and established various businesses and gradually focused on forest plantation activities. In 1968, Aracruz Florestal began planting the eucalyptus forests in Brazil that would provide the raw material for the future pulp mill. In 1972, Aracruz Celulose was established and Lorentzen was named President and Chairman of the Board.

Between 1967 and 1975, Lorentzen inexorably cajoled and kept pushing the pulp mill project forward and after the financial engineering studies were concluded, the US$600 million construction project began in 1975. Pulp production started in early 1978.

Under his leadership, the production doubled to one million tons of pulp per year in 1991and doubled again in 2002. In 2003, the Riocell pulp mill in Rio Grande do Sul was purchased and renamed Aracruz Guaiba Unit. Lorentzen was instrumental in Aracruz becoming equal partners with Stora Enso in the Veracel Project in Bahia, to produce 900,000 tons of pulp per year. The cost of the project was US$1.24 billion; pulp production started in 2005.

Lorentzen’s stimulating technical development and promotion of the use of eucalyptus fiber led to improved quality in printing and writing papers and to the family of sanitary tissue papers. His fostering of research efforts in developing highly productive and safe commercial eucalyptus forests resulted in being awarded the 1984 Marcus Wallenberg prize. In addition, Lorentzen is the recipient of numerous honors and awards for his war contributions in Norway and his business and civic contributions in Brazil. He currently serves as member or chairman of the Board of an impressive number of organizations focusing on sustainable forest development worldwide.

Lorentzen championed the cause of sustainable development as an inherent part of business strategy. At his suggestion, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development conducted a study on global forests and published results in 1996 under the title, “Towards a Sustainable Paper Cycle” which became a source for considerable continuing analysis. He also made sure that his company made contributions to the social development of Brazil.

Erling Lorentzen resides in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His wife of nearly 60 years, Her Highness Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen, died on September 16, 2012.

Arnold E Grummer

Arnold Grummer was born in Spencer, Iowa on August 19, 1923. He received his Bachelors degree in  education from Iowa State Teachers College in 1949 and his Masters in education from the State University of Iowa in 1952.

Grummer’s early endeavors included high school teaching as well as marketing and public relations positions with Armstrong Cork and Aid Association for Lutherans. From 1960 to 1975, Grummer worked as a member of the Faculty Department of General Studies, Editor of General Publications and Curator of the Dard Hunter Paper Museum, all at the Institute of Paper Chemistry (IPC) in Appleton, Wisconsin, Following his tenure at IPC, Grummer started a traveling live exhibit, ôThe Great American Paper Machine.ö His extensive list of presentations includes six appearances at the Smithsonian Institutions, ten consecutive years at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, and twenty consecutive years at the Great Lakes Logging Congress. Also in 1976, Grummer founded Greg Markim, Inc. which became one of the worldÆs leading suppliers of educational supplies for hand papermaking. Grummer’s papermaking kits have reached schools throughout the United States, important learning centers such as the Paper Discovery Center in Appleton, Wisconsin and the home-art and hobbyist community. Grummer has authored five books on making paper by hand.Grummer’s impact is indeed far reaching. More than 62,000 Grummer papermaking kits have been sold to schools, institutions, and families. His books have had combined sales of more than 105,000 units. There have been more than 144,000 visits to Grummer’s YouTube video about how to make paper. It is estimated that more than 3,000,000 sheets of paper have been hand made using Arnold Grummer papermaking kits.

Grummer vastly contributed to widespread understanding of the wonder and science of paper through television, books, videos, demonstrations, and the internet. His pilgrimage in paper has taken him from the halls of the worldÆs premier paper training institute (IPC) to the corridors of museums and school classrooms. He did all this for the love of paper!

Today, Arnold Grummer resides in Appleton, Wisconsin with his wife, Mabel. In their late 80s, the Grummers continue to be very active in their efforts to foster societyÆs understanding and appreciation of paper and papermaking.

Two weeks after being inducted into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame, sadly Arnold Grummer passed away.

John Frambach Stoveken

John Frambach Stoveken was born as John Frambach in Herkimer, New York on November 15, 1841. Shortly after John’s mother died, his father moved the Frambach family to Racine, Wisconsin. After the death of his father, John was adopted by Bernard and Francis Stoveken. John gained work experience in a flour mill in Milwaukee and then in the early 1860s he moved to Kaukauna to build and operate a flour mill on the Fox River. In 1871 a fire destroyed much of this mill.

In partnership with his brother Henry Frambach, John built and operated a paper mill variously called the Stoveken and Frambach mill or the Eagle Paper mill. This mill incorporated the new process for grinding wood that had been invented by Keller in Germany. This very successful mill was also destroyed by fire in 1881. It was later rebuilt and sold.

In 1886, John and his brother Henry started Badger Paper Company. It was the largest of the many mills in Kaukauna at the time. Shortly thereafter John started the Northern Pulp Company in Niagara, Wisconsin to supply groundwood pulp to the Badger mill in Kaukauna. In the ensuing years the Niagara mill was enlarged a number of times and eventually grew into the Quinnesec Pulp and Paper Company, a subsidiary of Badger Paper Company. The Niagara mill was purchased by Kimberly-Clark Corporation in 1898.

Stoveken was a cornerstone in the development of the Fox River area as a center for pulp and paper production. Along with his bother Henry Frambach, he built and operated a number of pulp and paper mills in the area. The legacy he left is evident from the historical records of early Kaukauna, Wisconsin.

In addition to his pulp and paper interests, Stoveken was also involved in gold mining operations in Colorado. He held a number of patents that describe methods for extracting gold from ore. Although he lived for a few years in Colorado, he returned to Milwaukee in 1915.

In 1921, John Stoveken moved to Los Angeles, California where he died in 1926.

Georg Jayme

Georg Jayme was born in Ober-Modau, Germany, on April 10, 1899. In 1922, he received his doctorate (Dr. Ing.) with honors from the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, now Technical University of Darmstadt (TUD).

After graduation, he worked at TUD for some time as assistant to Dr. Emil Heuser and in 1923 followed him to the Institute of Vereinigte Glanzstoff Fabriken, Berlin, Germany and in 1926 to Canada to head a research group of the Canadian International Co., Hawkesbury, Ontario. In 1930, he married Hjordis who had moved to Canada from Norway in 1928.

In 1936, Jayme was invited to join as Professor and head of the Institute of Cellulose Chemistry, TUD, Germany and remained at its helm until his retirement in 1969. During his 33-year tenure at TUD, Jayme developed many new swelling agents and solvents for cellulose. He chemically modified cellulose by methylation to produce stronger pulps and developed a new test method, Water Retention Value (WRV), to study the swelling properties of chemical pulps. He also made use of electron microscopy, especially 3-D imagery, to study the fine structure and reactivity of cellulose. 1n 1960, he developed a procedure for the manufacturing of fluorescent papers, especially for postal stamps. Jayme published over 700 papers (including 35 contributions to books) and was granted over 70 patents.

Under his leadership, the Institute of Cellulose Chemistry grew to become one of the major centers in the world. He trained 140 Masters and more than 130 Ph.D. students from many countries in the field of cellulose chemistry and pulp and paper science. Jayme was an invited lecturer and consultant to many companies and governments worldwide. In 1952, he was elected President of United Nations’ International Committee on raw materials for the production of paper. He also co-founded the magazine, Das Papier, with Prof. Walter Brecht in 1947.

Jayme received ZELLCHEMING’s Alexander-Mitscherlich medal in 1942, Valentin-Hottenroth medal in 1961, Dr. Karl-Kellner-Decoration by Ozepa, Vienna in 1964 and was made an honorary member of ZELLCHEMING in 1966. In 1968, he was made “fellow Emeritus” of the International Academy of Wood Science, Vienna.

Jayme was an active member and/or board member of many professional organizations in Germany, England, Canada and U.S.A. He had a life-long passion for painting, collecting modern art and postal stamps.

Georg Jayme died in Darmstadt Germany on January 1, 1979.

D.K. Brown

Daniel Kevill (D. K.) Brown was born in Preston, Lancashire England on January 21, 1886. At the age of 14, he began a six year apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner in his father’s business. In 1906, he came to Neenah, Wisconsin, U.S.A., worked as a carpenter and also took night courses in business.

Brown started his career in the paper industry with Kimberly-Clark. When Neenah Paper Company separated from Kimberly-Clark in 1912, Brown joined Neenah Paper as a management trainee and worked his way up the corporate ladder to become president in 1941 and retired as CEO in 1955. In June 1954, Brown was awarded Honorary Ph.D. Degree from Lawrence College (now University) Appleton, Wisconsin.

Brown was an experienced technical person, a skilled leader and an administrator. He worked diligently with the War Department to provide necessary paper products for army-navy needs. It was difficult and costly to change production from fine writing paper to the many different needs of the armed forces, but he made sure that Neenah Paper Company met the challenge. He had a marked impact on both the paper industry and the Fox River Valley.

Brown was a founding trustee of the Institute of Paper Chemistry, a graduate school. He also served two terms as president of the American Paper and Pulp Association, was a member of the executive committee of TAPPI, served as president of the National Writing Paper Manufacturing Association, vice president of the Wisconsin Pulp and Paper Manufacturers Traffic Association and president of the Wisconsin Paper Group.

Brown was also very active in the local community. He served on the boards of the Wisconsin Heart Association, First National Bank of Neenah, First Presbyterian Church of Neenah, Boys Brigade Association, and High Cliff Forest Park. He was also a founding director and president of North Shore golf club. He received an outstanding Service Award from Wisconsin Heart Association.

D. K. Brown died on July 25, 1974 in Neenah, Wisconsin.

Chester Floyd Carlson

Chester Floyd Carlson was born in Seattle, Washington on February 8, 1906. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) in 1930 and his law degree from New York Law School in 1939.

Upon graduation from Cal Tech in 1930, he joined Bell Telephone Laboratories as a research engineer, later becoming the assistant to the patent attorney. While working at Bell, Carlson wrote over 400 ideas for inventions in his personal notebooks. From 1933 to 1946, Carlson worked for the PR Mallory & Company as a patent officer.

Carlson was the inventor of xerography, which is the process of plain paper copying. He patented this process in 1938 and subsequently obtained over 38 other improvement patents. In 1944, he teamed with Battelle Memorial Institute to develop and commercialize the process and in 1947 formed a licensing agreement and a consulting arrangement with the Haloid Company, which later became known as the Xerox Corporation. The Xerox 914 copier was launched in 1959 and it revolutionized paper copying. Before the introduction of Xerox 914, the world made 20 million copies but just five years later, 9.5 billion and by 1984, 550 billion copies were made per year. It is estimated that 2 trillion xerographic copies were made in 2004. Obviously, plain paper copying had an enormous impact on the demand for paper.

The invention of the plain paper photocopier has been called the most significant development for the graphic arts since Gutenberg’s contributions for printing in Germany. Like Gutenberg, Carlson was the single inventor for this technological revolution. Forbes Magazine named the Xerox 914 copier the most successful product ever marketed in America.

While Carlson amassed a personal fortune (over $150 million) from his invention, he endeavored to die penniless through his philanthropic efforts. He was an inventor and a man of character with extraordinary will power.

Carlson received numerous awards during his career including the Inventor of the Year Award in 1964 and the Horatio Alger Award in 1966. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1981.

Chester Carlson died on September 19, 1968 in Rochester, New York.

John Swanson

John Swanson was born in Sioux City, Iowa, on October 12, 1917. He received his B.A. in physical chemistry in 1940 and a Ph.D. (Hon.) in 1972, both from Morningside College. He also received a M.S. (Hon.) degree from Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin in 1982.

Swanson worked as a graduate student in Iowa State College from 1940-1941. He married his high school sweetheart, Joyce Weed, and moved to the Institute of Paper Chemistry (IPC), Appleton, Wisconsin where he worked from 1941 until his retirement in 1982. From 1945-46 he was also a lecturer in chemistry at Lawrence College (now University).

Swanson joined IPC as Technical Assistant in 1941 and quickly rose to become group leader of surface and colloid chemistry (1953); Group Leader in Physical Chemistry (1956); Chairman Physical Chemistry Section (1964) and was Director, Division of Natural Materials and Systems (from 1969 until his retirement in 1982). He was involved in teaching, research, and consultation, and excelled in all three.

Swanson made his greatest contributions as an educator. His surface-science and colloid-chemistry courses were rated highly by students for their practical applications of chemical principles. At one point he was so successful in attracting students to work under his direction that the faculty at IPC adapted a rule that limited the number of MS students any one professor could advise to two per year.

During his tenure at IPC, Swanson guided at least 30 Ph.D. students; many more Masters students; published over 60 technical papers; over 200 technical reports; TAPPI monograph on internal sizing; chapters in books and gave invited lectures in USA and many countries abroad. His IPC lecture notes, “Colloid Chemistry in Papermaking Materials” were published as a book under his name in 2003, compiled and edited by his ex-student Prof. Gerard Ring.

In 1972 Swanson was named Outstanding Educator of America. He was elected TAPPI Fellow in 1973 and received 1974 TAPPI’s Research and Development Division Award. He has 11 patents to his credit.

Swanson died on August 4, 2004 at the age of 86 in Green Valley, Arizona. He was preceded in death by his wife Joyce, who died in 1992.

Johann Gutenberg

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was born in Mainz, Germany on ca. June 24, 1398 as the youngest son of a patrician (aristocrat) family of Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden and his second wife Else Wyrich. In 1411 they migrated to Strassburg for political reasons because of an uprising against the patricians. Gutenberg studied at the University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany. He was a goldsmith and a printer who introduced modern book printing.

Gutenberg invented a method of printing from movable type in the mid-1400s which was used without significant change until the 20th century as the so-called letterpress printing process. The elements of his invention consisted of a mold, with punch-stamped matrices (metal prisms used to mold the face of the type) with which type could be case precisely and in large quantities; a type-metal alloy (lead, tin, antimony); a new press and a smudge-resistant oil-based ink (lampblack, turpentine, linseed-oil, and egg-whites). None of these features existed in the earlier printing methods.

In 1455 Gutenberg published his 42-line Bible, commonly known as the Gutenberg Bible. About 180 were printed, most on paper and some on vellum. The printing technology spread quickly and news and books began to travel across Europe much faster than before with enormous impact on Western Civilization. Because of the significantly increasing demand for printing material, Gutenberg’s invention hugely stimulated the growth of paper mills all over Europe.

Typographic printing is a European invention. The Chinese and the Koreans came the nearest to developing this form of printing, by 1040 and by 1300, respectively, but did not progress beyond primitive sand casting of their characters which did not lend themselves to mass production techniques. The lack of an alphabet of a limited number of letters made the mass production of types impractical.

Gutenberg died in Mainz, Germany, on February 3, 1468.

Jasper Mardon

Jasper Mardon was born in Exeter, England in 1921. From 1939 to 1946 he served in the British army in World War II. Following the war Mardon received his B.A. (1949) and MA (1951) from Selwyn College, Cambridge University, England. In 1997 he was awarded D.Sc. (Hon.) degree by the Board of Graduate Studies. It is the highest degree Cambridge University confers in science and engineering but is rarely awarded to a person in industry.

In 1974, Mardon formed Omni Continental, a process consulting company specializing in the pulp and paper industry, worldwide. He pioneered many advances in improving paper machine operations, especially the runnability. Examples of his pioneering work include the tapered flow manifold for headboxes, use of high speed photography to analyze wet-end disturbances, frequency analysis for pulsation diagnostics on paper machines, and the use of optical lasers to correct alignment problems on coaters. Omni also developed and provided training seminars for operating crews and management of a paper mill.

Mardon was a founding member of the International Association of Scientific Papermakers. Four awards and endowments have been established in his name by TAPPE, PAPTAC, PITA, and APPITA. He published 6 books and over—technical papers / reports, including some path-breaking studies in pressing, drying, and calendaring. He also has many patents to his credit.

Mardon is the recipient of over 20 national / international awards and honors. The honor “Fellow” has been bestowed upon him by the Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI), the Instrument Society of America, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the City and Guilds Institute of London. He is also the recipient of the PITA Silver Jubilee Medal (1988); TAPPI’s highest technical award, the Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal (1990); and the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association’s John Bates Gold Medal (1990).

Jasper Mardon passed away in Vancouver, BC, Canada in 1997.

Henry Frambach

Colonel Johan “Henry” August Frambach was born in Herkimer City, New York on November 22, 1840. He was the second of four children of German immigrant parents, Charles Augustus J. and Maria Elisabeth (Ader) Frambach. His mother died in 1846 and father in 1854. The children were adopted by Bernard and Francis Stoveken of Milwaukee.

Frambach’s formal education ended in 1857. In 1858 when the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in the 61st regiment of the Illinois Infantry and later he was recruited into the Secret Service and served as a spy. In 1863 he was appointed Chief of the Secret Service in the Department of Arkansas and promoted to Colonel. He married Fannie Claspill in 1865.

Frambach was one of the most influential persons in establishing the Fox River Valley as a center for papermaking in the United States. In 1872, Frambach joined his brother, John Stoveken, to rebuild and convert Stoveken’s burnt flour mill in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, into a paper mill. Under Frambach’s technical leadership, the rebuilt paper mill (named Eagle Mill) incorporated the new wood grinding pulping process that had been invented by Friedrich Keller in Germany. From 1877-1880, Frambach owned and operated the Menasha Paper Pulp Company and then returned to Eagle Paper Mill until it was destroyed by fire. He rebuilt the mill and renamed it first, Frambach Paper, then Union Pulp Company, serving as Vice-President and Manager.

In 1884 he sold his interests in Union Pulp Company and organized the Badger Paper Company which was the largest mill in Kaukauna at the time. Badger also built a mill in Quinnesec Falls, now known as Niagara, Wisconsin. In 1987 the Badger mill caught fire and was destroyed. Rather than rebuild the mill, Frambach chose to build a paper mill in Cheboygan, Michigan. He served as President of Cheboygan Paper Company until he sold the operation in 1916. He has at least 10 patents to his credit.

Frambach retired and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he died on March 10, 1921.

Friedrich Gottlob Keller

Friedrich Keller was born in Hainichen, Saxony, Germany, on June 27, 1816. He spent his childhood and youth working for his father as a weaver and leaf-binder but was not happy. He was interested in machines and kept with him an “idea book”, where he noted different types of machines.

Based on the 18th century French scientist Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur’s article that paper could be made from trees, the 25 year old Keller, in 1841, noted down in his idea book a wood-grinding machine that could extract fibers from trees for use in papermaking. In 1844, he produced an experimental machine and made a sheet of wood-containing paper. He sent a sample to his government, asking for financial support to develop commercial machines and support further research. His appeal was rejected.

Keller then sold his invention to a papermaker, Heinrich Voelter, for about USD$300. A patent was granted to Keller in 1845 in both Keller’s and Voelter’s names. Voelter began production on a larger scale, and in 1848, the first of several wood grinding machines was produced. In 1852 the renewal of the patent came due, but Keller did not have the money to renew his part of the patent. Therefore, Voelter was the only parent holder and the work and subsequent considerable profit did not come to Keller, leaving him unemployed and penniless.

The first groundwood pulp was produced commercially in the US in 1867. In 1868 the first issue of newspaper based on wood was published in New York but the German “Staats-Zeitung” and in 1873 by the New York Times.

In recognition for his invention, Keller received several awards including the “Merit of Invention” from German government. In addition to his greatest invention of the wood-grinding machine. Keller also invented a tree diameter measuring device, a machine for producing buttons and an apparatus for sharpening pens.

Friedrich Keller died in Krippen, Germany on November 8, 1895.

Karl F Landegger

Karl F. Landegger was truly a global pulp & paper industry leader. He was born in Vienna, Austria in January 1905. His early career was in Austria, where he was president and owner of Welser Paper Factory from 1930-1939. He then moved to England where he was president of Abergavenny Paper Mill in 1939-1940. He obtained control of Parsons & Whittemore, Inc. in New York in the early 1940s and subsequently obtained control of Lyddon & Co. Ltd. in the early 1950s. He developed the Parsons & Whittemore – Lyddon organization into one of world-wide stature.

In 1953 he launched the “packaged mill” concept providing all services for developing and operating pulp & paper plants in developing countries. This resulted in completion of 60 plants in 28 countries all based on using local raw materials including a variety of non-wood fibers such as straw, bagasse, reeds, grasses, bamboo, esparto, abaca, etc. as well as various wood species. He encouraged governments and private investors to see the rewards of having their own paper industries in these countries, many of which were unable to import adequate paper to satisfy their needs. He arranged the foreign financing required and even invested in many of the projects himself to facilitate the establishment of these plants’ followed by having his organization carry out the successful construction and operation of the mills and then turning them over to local owners.

In order to supply a major part of the machinery for these plants, he obtained control of Black Clawson in 1951 and built it into one of the world’s leading pulp and paper machinery companies. Many new products were introduced including the invention of the twin wire paper machine, the first paper machine over 300 inches in width, pressure screening, the Pandia digester for quick continuous digestion of non-wood fibers, and major improvements in waste paper recycling machinery.

He also founded and held controlling interest in five large market pulp mills, including Prince Albert Pulp, in Saskatchewan, St. Anne Nackawic Pulp & Paper in New Brunswick, Alabama River Pulp in Claiborne, Alabama, La Cellulose D’Aquitane in France and La Cellulose des Ardennes in Belgium.

Mr. Landegger contributed greatly toward the development of efficient pulp and paper industries in developing countries. He furnished equipment for the first mill to pulp eucalyptus in Brazil. He received decorations from the governments of India, Ethiopia, Tunisia, and Austria for his work in developing pulp & paper companies in those countries. As president of Parsons & Whittemore, Inc. he was presented by the Secretary of Commerce with the Presidents “E” Flag in 1963 for an outstanding contribution to the Export Expansion Program of the U.S.A. He was a founding member of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) of the United Nations and of its ICP (Industrial Cooperative Program) in Rome.

Mr. Landegger was a very private person who went to considerable lengths to shield himself from personal publicity. He died 1976. His son, Carl C. Landegger was inducted into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in 2003. His son George Landegger, Chairman of the Board of Parsons & Whittemore, is also carrying on the family tradition with two family pulp mills, Alabama River and Alabama Pine Pulp.

Jori Eino Pesonen

Jori Eino Pesonen was born on August 21, 1925 in the city of Tampere, the industrial centre of Finland where he also went to school. In 1951, he earned his master’s degree in paper technology from the Helsinki University of Technology.

From 1951-1952, Pesonen worked as manufacturing and research engineer at Hallsta Pappersbruk in Sweden and from 1953-54 at similar positions in Canada at Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company and Anglo-Canadian Pulp & Paper Mills. In 1954, Pesonen returned to Finland from Canada and spent four years working with the team that was building a green-field newsprint mill (1954-1958), now known as UPM Kaipola. Later, Valmet (now Metso) hired him for two years as technical manager to erect and start their new newsprint machine at Cartiere del Timavo S.p.A. in Italy.

By that time the Finnish Kajaani Oy had decided to build their first modern paper machine; Valmet supplied the machine and Tampella, the grinder. Thus the next 14 years Pesonen spent in the little mill town Kajaani in northern Finland as technical manager and later as mill manager. He was also involved in building Kajaani’s second and third machines.

About 1974, Valmet hired him as general manager of the Rautpohja Works, home of their paper machine manufacturing. In 1980, he was promoted to head of the Wood Processing and Paper Machinery Group and in 1987 became President and CEO of Valmet Paper Machinery Inc. He retired in 1990.

Under Pesonen’s leadership, Valmet was transformed from a Finnish mid-size supplier to a leading global supplier of pulp and paper manufacturing machinery. During his tenure, Valmet delivered 97 new paper machines and conducted 76 rebuilds.

From 1974-76, Pesonen served as Chairman of the Finnish Paper Engineers’ Association, received the Stenbäck Plaquette in 1977 and was elected Honorary Member in 2002. He received the Finnish honorary title Industrial Counselor for extraordinary services in1987 and became TAPPI Fellow in 1990. He was a member of the German ZELLCHEMING, British Paper & Board Industry Federation and Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. He was also member of the Board of Directors of many other organizations.

Pesonen is married to Ritta Pesonen. They have two sons (Walter and Jussi) and a daughter (Eeva). Both sons work in the paper industry.

John Hinman

John Hinman was born in North Stratford, New Hampshire on October 2, 1885.

He received his college education at Dartmouth College where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1908.

John Hinman spent his entire career with International Paper. He joined the company in 1913 as a forestry district manager. In 1927 he became the general manager of International Paper Timberlands. A year later he was promoted to Vice President of International Paper. He became President of Canadian International Paper in 1935, and, eight years later, President of all of International Paper. He held that position for twelve years before becoming Chairman, International Paper in 1954. He retired as Chairman in 1961, but remained as Honorary Chairman and Director of Woodlands until 1962.

He was a passionate forester committed to the conservation of the company’s timberlands and launched massive reforestation programs. In an era when many companies practiced a “cut-out and get-out” strategy, he recognized that good forest management and a healthy forest products industry were codependent. He urged a multiple-use approach to forestry, the tenants of which clearly anticipated our current vision of sustainable forestry that has become formalized in our forest certification systems. His visionary role is illustrated by his 1948 remark, “once wood is reduced to a pure and stable chemical it provides the base on which chemist can build a hundred different products…..It is conceivable that the forests of United States and Canada within the next half century will supply us not only paper for many varied purposes….but also quantities of foodstuffs, alcohol, and chemical raw materials from parts of the wood which we are only beginning to use today.”

By the late 1940’s he more than doubled the company’s lands from 2.5 million to 5.8 million acres, while virtually eliminating its debt. He was among the first to recognize the industry’s growth potential in the United States South and moved quickly to position International Paper in that region. A strong supporter of innovation, Mr. Hinman established a research laboratory in Mobile, Alabama and a forest experiment station at Bainbridge, Georgia. Both of these units contributed significantly to the industry’s technology base.

Under his leadership as Chairman, International Paper experienced a period of unprecedented growth. International Paper started a dissolving pulp mill in Natchez, Mississippi that was the first to use 100% hardwood, and built a mill in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to produce newsprint, milk carton grades and lightweight white papers. He launched a multimillion dollar research program to develop a very successful plastic-coated milk carton. New liquid packaging and corrugated container plants were constructed and acquired. He led International Paper’s expansion overseas through joint ventures and acquisitions. By 1959 International Paper reached $1 billion in sales.

He was a forceful and dynamic leader who contributed significantly to the development of the industrial forest base in the United States South. His insight, force of personality, and strength of conviction made him an effective advocate for both responsible use of natural resources and responsible corporate behavior. Under his leadership, the International Paper Foundation was established to support educational development. The Foundation currently awards the John Hinman Teacher Fellowships in his honor.

He received honorary degrees from the Institute of Paper Chemistry through Lawrence College (now Lawrence University) in 1951 and Dartmouth College in 1957. In 1958 he received the Forest Farmer Award. He served as president of the American Pulpwood Association and American Forest Products Industries.

Mr. Hinman died on May 22, 1981 in Pelham, New York. He was married to Jennie C. Drew. They had four sons (Howard D., Dr. Crawford H., Edward D. and Richard H.), seventeen grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Johan Richter

Johan Richter was born in Liar, Norway in November 1901. He received his Master of Science degree in Engineering Design and Development from the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), in Trondheim, in 1924. As part of his degree, Richter had his first engineering assignment with the Narvik iron-ore terminal where his father also worked.

After graduation from NTH, he spent four years in France as a mechanical engineer where he met his Norwegian wife-to-be, Astri. Richter was a cross-country skier and managed to make sure that his employment was in the mountainous areas. During the week, in France, he designed turbines and pumps; the weekends were dedicated to skiing, mountain climbing and the occasional ski-jumps.

He returned to Norway from France to join Thune Workshop, Norway, working on a bleaching system for what is now StoraEnso. In 1932, he lost his job at Thune Workshop due to the worldwide depression; on every street corner in Oslo, men were out of work. His unemployment was short lived. Knud Dahl of the nearby Myrens Verksted had heard of the promising young engineer and hired Richter to head up an organization called Kamyr with the responsibility to design, develop and market new machinery that would bring badly needed orders into the workshop. Kamyr was formed in 1920 as a partnership between the two workshops Myrens Verksted (part of Norway’s Kvaerner Group) and Karlstad Mekaniska Werksted (Sweden’s Johnson Group). It lay dormant until Knud Dahl employed Johan Richter.

In late 1930s, Richter invented and developed the Continuous Bleaching Process which was so successful that there was a frenzy of new installations around pre-war Europe, including mills in Austria, Poland, Hungry, and other parts of Eastern Europe. The first installation in the U.S.A for International Paper Co. was so successful that Kamyr received all of the company’s bleach plant orders in America.

Richter also invented and developed the Continuous Cooking Process. In 1940, Kamyr built a pilot digester in Kalix, Sweden to aid its development. As it turned out, developing the bleach plant was a piece of cake compared to developing the new digester. It took 10 years before the first commercial digester was successfully installed at the Fengerfors mill in Sweden producing about 30 tons per day compared to today’s chip-hungry digesters that cook up to 2500 tpd.

Richter became CEO of Kamyr AB in 1950 and from 1959-97 he was the Chief Technical Advisor to the Kamyr Group both in Sweden and U.S.A. and continued the development until 1997.

In 1958, Richter and his wife Astri moved to France where they lived for 22 years before moving back to Oslo, Norway. By moving to France, Richter was able to work from home for Kamyr AB but spent a lot of time traveling to Karlstad, Sweden as well as Glens Falls, New York, U.S.A. He was well over 90 when he left his advisory R&D post.

In the early 1960s, Richter guided the development of continuous counter-current diffuser that replaced the rotating washers in the washing systems as well as the bleach plants resulting in huge reductions in water consumption.

Richter’s strength included extreme hunger for innovation. He did not regard innovation as one-off event, but rather a process of systematic improvement and search for new opportunities. He was also a very effective salesman. A mill manager needing technical help requested Knud Dahl of Kamyr, “whatever you do, don’t send Richter here. I will only end up buying a new machine.”

With a lifetime of systematic innovations, Johan Richter shaped a business that was – and remains – ahead of the game. His contributions revolutionized the pulping and bleaching processes that became the basis of contemporary chemical pulping and bleaching technologies.

When he was 94 years old, with 754 international patents in the field of wood pulping equipment and processes, Richter was still puzzling over possible new and improved solutions. For his contributions, he received many prestigious awards including: Knights of the Norvegian St. Olavs Order; Swedish Academy of Sciences, Gold Medal; TAPPI Gold Medal, and Doctor Honoris Causa The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm. He also was elected Honorary member of the Norvegian Academy of Engineering Scientists.

Richter died on June 13, 1997 at the age of 96.

Cai Lun

Of the many inventions of ancient China, four have been given special honor. They are the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing. Today we honor the Chinese invention of paper and honor one its foremost ancient champions.

The invention of paper clearly affects the world today, but providing the proper credit for ancient inventions is a difficult task. Nevertheless, the best information points to a servant of the Chinese imperial court, a eunuch named Cai Lun (sometimes spelled Ts’ai Lun), as the man who can be credited with the invention and innovation of paper in 105 A.D. In addition, Cai Lun took paper beyond being a technical invention and helped drive its widespread adoption such that it became a successful innovation, one that would stick, dramatically changed the world, and continues to be a major societal force.

In the fifth century, the Chinese scholar Fan Ye credited Cai Lun with the discovery of paper in his official history of the Han Dynasty, a golden era in Chinese History. He wrote “Intimes, writings and inscriptions were generally traced upon pieces of bamboo, or upon strips of silk… silk being costly and bamboo heavy these two materials could not be used conveniently. It was Cai Lun who conceived of the idea of making paper from the bark of trees, hemp waste, old rags and fish nets.”

In the book, The 100 – a Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History by Michael H. Hart, Cai Lun (or Ts’ai Lun) is ranked as the seventh most influential person in history due to his invention or discovery of papermaking. That he was ranked above Gutenberg, Einstein, Pasteur, Galileo, Aristotle and others is truly significant, and it relates to the fundamental importance of paper to civilizations of the world.

Many inventions wither away into obscurity and fail to become lasting innovations until the right person with the right vision, means and connections comes along. Cai Lun with access to the Emperor, with a vision of the potential of the invention, and with the credibility to make a report that would gain imperial attention, was such a man. It is Cai Lun whom we can properly credit for successfully driving the innovation of paper into ancient Chinese and ultimately world history.

Cai Lun was born in Guiyang (modern day Leiyang). Despite his accomplishments, Cai Lun became involved in imperial intrigue, assisting the empress in dealing with a romantic rival for the emperor’s attention. When power shifted in 121 A.D., he was called to be judged for his role. Rather than appear for judgment, Cai Lun bathed, dressed in his finest robes and then drank poison, ending the life of the man who started one of the greatest inventions and innovations in history.

Barbaravan Van Lierop

Barbara van Lierop at her retirement in 2007, was principal scientist in the chemical pulping program at the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (Paprican). She has made significant contributions to bleaching research during her 33 year career with Paprican.

Van Lierop started her career at the Stora Enso Port Hawkesbury mill as a summer intern while pursuing a B.Sc. degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was while completing a M.Sc. at McGill University’s McDonald Campus, she became acquainted with Paprican and joined the organization.

During her career, van Lierop has been associated with major changes in bleaching technology that arose from the need to address environmental issues. These developments at Paprican included the application of oxidative extraction in pulp bleaching and the use of oxygen, peroxide and ozone in both TCF and ECF bleaching, and part of a research team that is developing technologies to improve chlorine dioxide bleaching efficiency.

Van Lierop has played an important role in the transfer of these research technologies to mills, either directly or indirectly, through her participation in both the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada (PAPTAC) and the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) committee work.

She has made major contributions to PAPTAC. She served as chair of the Bleaching Committee from 1981-83. She later served as Councilor from 1994-96 and then chair from 1996-98. She received honorary life membership in 2004.

She has also made significant contributions to TAPPI. A member since 1979, van Lierop has participated on the Bleaching Committee and the International Pulp Bleaching Conference planning committee. In 1999 she received the Pulp Manufacturing Division Technical Service Award and the Johan Richter Prize, presented in recognition of outstanding contributions that have advanced the industry’s technology.

Other honors bestowed on van Lierop include the F.G. Robinson Committee Service Award in 1982; the Douglas Jones Environmental Award in 1990 and 1993; and the Howard Rapson Memorial Award in 2000.

And in 2007, van Lierop was awarded the distinguished John S. Bates Memorial Gold Medal in recognition of long-term contributions to the science and technology of the paper industry. She was named a TAPPI fellow in 2005, an honor bestowed on less than one percent of the organization’s membership.

Albert Bernard Weissenborn

Albert Weissenborn was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1863, a son of Henry and Maria Theresa Weissenborn. Albert’s father was educated in engineering by his father, a German blast furnace inventor. Henry came to the United States in 1848 at the age of 24, already experienced in the building of blast furnaces and flour mills. He built a blast furnace for the Bethlehem Iron Works. Henry and his engineer brothers Gustavus and Edward were employed by Mr. John Ericsson during the construction of the Civil War battleship “Monitor”.

Albert Weissenborn began his career in wire drawing as an apprentice at age 16. He began his inventive work on power looms during the 1880’s while at Cheney Bigelow Wire Works in Springfield, Massachusetts where he met his wife Eleanor. His early inventions for power looms are documented in 1890 mechanical drawings signed by Albert and verified by witnesses. In 1896 Albert joined his brother-in-law William Buchanan; his close friend and nephew, Gus Buchanan; and John Buchanan in founding the Appleton Wire Works. He initially served as superintendent. Albert’s wife Eleanor, whose father had been a master wire weaver and loom constructor in London, contributed her skill as a wire seamer in the early days of the company.

Among numerous inventions, his major one was the electro-pneumatic loom in which the loom was powered by compressed air and electricity. Prior to this invention, wire-weaving always demanded both technical skill and physical strength. This invention not only reduced the number of men needed to operate a loom, it also allowed less physically taxed workers to focus on quality and improved uniformity. Patents were granted in the US, France, and Germany. The wires produced by this invention yielded higher quality paper on the paper machines and the growth of Appleton Wire Works accelerated due to this development. The focus on quality was exemplified by the adoption of the company motto “Appleton wires are good wires” in 1907, just one year after his first patents were granted. He continued to refine loom design and was granted another patent in 1910. By this time, Appleton Wire Works had grown to be the second largest wire weaving plant in the country and the largest in the West. In 1912, Appleton Wire Works was restructured and a new 50-50 partnership was formed between Albert and his nephew Gus. Albert was president and manager and Gus Buchanan was secretary and treasurer. Albert continued designing, supervising and directing every detail of the manufacturing including the machine shop where equipment and parts were designed and built for the plant.

Albert Weissenborn was a prolific inventor whose contributions included loom design, wire drawing, annealing equipment, bobbin winding, pirn welding equipment and shuttle design. He was instrumental in the development of the technology of producing Fourdrinier wires. His improvements enabled the production of wider and longer lasting wires, leading to improved productivity in the paper industry. The power loom reduced the number of weavers per loom from two to one. However, at Appleton Wire Works, increased business provided work for the weavers. As an example, there were no layoffs during the Great Depression.

Albert Weissenborn served as President and Manager of Appleton Wire Works from 1912 until his death in 1938. During his tenure, the company became a leader not only in the Fox Valley, but across the United States.

He and his wife, Eleanor Gray, had one child, Annette, who married Roy Purdy. Their son, Albert’s grandson, Bruce Purdy, carried on the family tradition of engineering innovation and invention. Bruce Purdy was inducted into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in 2005.