Kremer Henry (1906-1992)

Kremer Henry (8 May 1906, Dvinsk – 8 April 1992, Israel) — inventor.

During World War I, Kremer’s parents emigrated to Great Britain, where they established a woodworking and plywood business. Kremer was educated in Britain and Switzerland and became a British citizen. In 1927, he joined his parents’ business, introducing several inventions that significantly improved production.

By the start of World War II, he held numerous patents, including one for a wood-processing method used in constructing the de Havilland Mosquito bomber. In 1941, he developed a process for manufacturing an artificial plywood substitute from wood fibers, which was used in the defense industry and later for commercial purposes, leading to the creation of particleboard (chipboard).

In 1953, he devised a process for producing glass fibers, which later developed into plastic manufacturing. In 1951, he founded the Microcell Company (later a corporation). Kremer was the author of many inventions for both defense and commercial industries.

In 1960, he established the Kremer Prize for the first successful human-powered flight. Over the next 27 years, many flying machines were built with his financial support. In 1979, one of these aircraft achieved a flight across the English Channel, after which Kremer donated £100,000 to the Royal Aeronautical Society to support further developments in aeronautics.

In 1975, the Royal Aeronautical Society made him an honorary fellow, and in 1988, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale awarded him its highest honor — the FAI Gold Air Medal. He was married and had two sons and two daughters.

Lit.: Grosser M. Gossamer Odyssey: The Triumph of Human-Powered Flight. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1981.