Bernhard Wessling
| Bernhard Wessling | |
|---|---|
| Portrait photo of Dr. Wessling during crane observationPorträtfoto Dr. Weßling.jpg Bernhard Wessling (2025) | |
| Born | 1951 (age 74–75) Herne, Germany |
| 🏳️ Nationality | German |
| 🎓 Alma mater | University of Bochum |
| 💼 Occupation | |
Bernhard Wessling
Bernhard Wessling (born 1951) is a German chemist, entrepreneur, and inventor. He is known for his work on conductive polymers, especially polyaniline.[1] He founded and managed Ormecon GmbH, one of the early companies to commercialize conductive polymers.[2] In addition to his scientific work, he has published on philosophical and intercultural topics.[3]
Life and career
Wessling earned a doctorate in the chemistry of natural products and began researching conductive polymers in the early 1980s, focusing on polyaniline.[1] He patented a method for producing a stable, dispersible, and industrially usable form of polyaniline, which he reported was transformed into a nanometal.[4][5]
He founded Ormecon GmbH in Ammersbek, near Hamburg, Germany. Under his leadership, the company developed applications for conductive polymers, including corrosion protection and printed circuit board final finishes. This dispersion technology was licensed to companies such as Bayer AG in Germany, Nissan Chemical Industries in Japan[4], and DuPont in the United States[2], while the corrosion protection and PCB finishing technologies were introduced by Ormecon itself into worldwide markets.
Besides direct marketing work, Wessling also worked as the senior scientist in fundamental and applied research.[6] After selling Ormecon to Enthone[5] (which later merged with MacDermid and became part of Element Solutions), he focused on investment in a biologically managed farm and developed a semi-quantitative theory of using entropy as a criterion for sustainability. In 2025, he was elected a member of the Leibniz Society of Sciences, a German scientific society originally founded in 1700 by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.[7]
Research contributions
Wessling holds several international patents and has published on conductive polymers and related topics.[8] He worked on developing metal-free corrosion protection coatings based on the organic metal polyaniline, with applications in printed circuit board finishing.[5] His research also included studies of morphology and dispersibility of polyaniline. He developed and published a non-equilibrium thermodynamical theory for dispersions and emulsions and co-authored a parameter-free turbulence theory for non-Newtonian liquids such as dispersions and emulsions.[9]
Awards
- 1998: SEAM Award, Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, New York, USA[10]
- 2025: Elected Member, Leibniz Society of Sciences (Germany)[7]
Selected publications
- B. Wessling (1994-03-01). "Passivation of metals by coating with polyaniline: Corrosion potential shift and morphological changes". Advanced Materials. 6 (3): 226–228. Bibcode:1994AdM.....6..226W. doi:10.1002/adma.19940060309.
- B. Wessling (1995-06-30). "Critical Shear Rate - the Instability Reason for the Creation of Dissipative Structures in Polymers". Z. Phys. Chem. 191: 119–135. doi:10.1524/zpch.1995.191.Part_1.119.
- B. Wessling (2010-12-17). "New Insight into Organic Metal Polyaniline Morphology and Structure". Polymers. 2 (4): 786–798. doi:10.3390/polym2040786.
- Helmut Z. Baumert; B. Wessling (2016-07-01). "On turbulence in dilatant dispersions". Physica Scripta. 91 (7): 074003. Bibcode:2016PhyS...91g4003B. doi:10.1088/0031-8949/91/7/074003. ISSN 0031-8949.
Submission rationale
This draft has been prepared with attention to Wikipedia’s notability guidelines, specifically addressing the “academic notability criteria” for biographies of scientists. The subject's contributions in polymer chemistry and corrosion protection are documented in multiple independent, reliable secondary sources, including peer-reviewed publications, patents, industry reports, and recognitions.[1]
- Significant impact on the field: Research on polyaniline-based coatings and metal-free corrosion protection has influenced scientific and industrial processes worldwide, with licensing to Bayer.[11], DuPont[2], and Nissan Chemical[4]
- Highly cited scholarly work: His publications have received academic citations in polymer chemistry, thermodynamics, and materials science.[12]
- Recognition by professional societies: Recipient of the SEAM Award[10] (1998, Polytechnic University, New York) and elected member (2025) of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Germany.[7]
- Published research: Author of peer-reviewed articles on polyaniline morphology, non-equilibrium thermodynamics of dispersions, and turbulence in dilatant systems.[9]
- Industry leadership: Founder, CEO, and lead scientist of Ormecon GmbH, a pioneer in conductive polymer commercialization.[3]
- Patents and technology transfer: Inventor on multiple international patents on conductive polymer dispersions and corrosion protection coatings.[8]
- Independent coverage: Reported in industry media such as PlastEurope[2], Evertiq[13], Azonano[4], SurfaceFinishing.com[14], Finishing & Coating[5] sst.semiconductor-digest.com[15], American Chemical Society[16] and ABC News in Science[17] confirming the impact and relevance of his research.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Wessling, B. (2001). "From Conductive Polymers to Organic Metals". Chemical Innovation. 31 (1): 19–23.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "ORMECON licenses conductive polymer technology to DuPont". PlastEurope.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "philosophical and intercultural topics". Bernd Wessling Website.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Organic Metal Polyaniline – Nanotechnology Applications". Azonano. 4 June 2004.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Organic Metal for Corrosion and Oxidation Protection". Finishing & Coating. 17 February 2021.
- ↑ "Bernhard Wessling – Basic Research". 8 August 2022.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Bernhard Weßling". German Wikipedia.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Patents by Inventor Bernhard Wessling". Justia.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Baumert, H. Z.; Wessling, B. (2016). "On turbulence in dilatant dispersions". Physica Scripta. 91 (7): 074003. Bibcode:2016PhyS...91g4003B. doi:10.1088/0031-8949/91/7/074003.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "SEAM Awards". SEAM - Search for Electro Active Materials.
- ↑ "Lizenz für leitfähiges Polymer". Kunststoffforum.
- ↑ "Google Scholar Citations: Bernhard Wessling".
- ↑ "Evertiq". Evertiq.
- ↑ "Polyaniline Coating Promises Excellent Corrosion Protection". SurfaceFinishing.com.
- ↑ "Ormecon cultivates organic metals for displays, coatings and paints". sst.semiconductor-digest.com.
- ↑ "Cars And Bridges That Almost Never Rust -- Plastic Coating Creates "Organic" Metals". ScienceDaily.
- ↑ "Cars and bridges that never rust?". ABC News in Science.
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