A driving force in the plastics industry

It was with great sadness that the members of the Board of Management and employees of Bayer MaterialScience learned of the death of Dr h.c. Dieter Freitag, who formerly served as Head of Research for the Plastics Business Group and Head of Materials Research at Bayer Central Research. The researcher recently passed away at the age of 74. "Dr. Freitag’s research resulted in breakthroughs that made possible many of the modern applications we take for granted today. He was a driving force in the development of the plastics industry," said Dr Markus Steilemann, Head of the Polycarbonates Business Unit and member of the Executive Committee of Bayer MaterialScience.

Dr. Freitag held or jointly held more than 400 patents (including many in the United States) that resulted in the development of new products in the field of engineering thermoplastics. These include important applications such as the compact disc (CD) and multiwall plastic sheets, which are used in greenhouses around the world, for example. He also developed the specialty polycarbonate APEC® HT, a material that is extremely resistant to heat and widely used in automotive lighting and medical equipment.

Dr. Freitag began his professional career in 1967 with Bayer AG, where he worked for over 30 years in the research and development of innovative polymer technologies. Dr. Freitag served in a variety of functions with increasing levels of responsibility during his time at Bayer, eventually becoming Head of Thermoplastics Research. He was later promoted to Head of Research and Development at the Plastics Business Group and ultimately was appointed Head of Material Research at Bayer Central Research.

After leaving Bayer AG in 2001, Dr. Freitag joined Triton Systems, where as Chief Technology Officer he was responsible for polymer technologies.

Dr. Freitag received numerous honors in Germany and abroad for his important achievements and contributions to the growth and success of the plastics industry, including the Otto Bayer Medal, the Hermann F. Mark Medal of the Austrian Ministry of Research for accomplishments in the field of engineering plastics in general and in the area of polycarbonates in particular, as well as an honorary doctorate from the Russian Academy of Sciences for outstanding work in polymer sciences and chemical engineering. He also was named a member of Italy’s Accademia dei Georgofili for his achievements in the field of environmentally friendly chemistry. In 2006, Dr. Freitag was inducted into the Plastics Academy Hall of Fame.

His remarkable contribution to the development of the compact disc and its rise to global dominance is recounted in the research book The Inventor Company, which the Bayer Group published last year in celebration of its 150th anniversary.