Uwe Krone 1938–2011

Dr. Uwe Krone passed away on November 24, 2011 after along battle with cancer.

Uwe Krone was born on August 20, 1938 in Bremen. Hestudied chemistry at the Rheinischen Friedrich-WilhelmsUniversit�t Bonn from 1959 to 1967 and took a doctoraldegree under the supervision of Prof. Dr. J. Goerdeler, atthe Kekul�-Institute for Organic and Biochemistry.

As early as 1960 he started work in the field of pyrotech-nics at Nico-Pyrotechnik Hanns-J�rgen Diedrichs KG in Trit-tau where he had been employed as a student traineealongside his studies. From 1967 to 2003 he directed theChemical Research and Development Department of Pyro-technics.

The involvement of Rheinmetall GmbH at Nico-Pyrotech-nik in 1970 led to a strengthening of the military part ofthe department’s pyrotechnics research. The years 1977 to1982 were shaped by studies into smoke, the results ofwhich were utilized in the development of 120 mm mortarammunition. The plastic bonded “NT-Smoke Composition”developed at that time was less toxic than the formerlywide-spread smoke based on hexachlorethane, and couldbe used without a covering capsule.

One challenge in the field of “smokes and obscurants”has been the reduction of toxicity. That topic led to the de-velopment of the first non-toxic smoke based on potassiumchloride and magnesium oxide as found in obscuring aero-sols. This so-called “KM-smoke” was the foundation of anew fertilizer aerosol whose effectiveness was investigatedin a joint project “aerosol fertilization of marred vegetation”

together with the Nieders�chsischen Institut f�r Radioçko-logie (NIR) and the Forstbotanischen Institut of the Univer-sity Gçttingen (FBI) [1] . Another challenge was the spectralwidening of the aerosol’s effectiveness towards the IR- andRADAR-range, that had to be proven by extensive smokecampaigns [2, 3].

Alongside these many international activities in the fieldof “smokes and obscurants”, over the years Uwe Kronedemonstrated his passionate enthusiasm for practicallyevery other field of pyrotechnics. Beside military pyrotech-nics it was fireworks that were his real passion, a throw-back to the origins of Nico-Pyrotechnic. Numerous ideas,concepts, studies and developments originated from ideasthat he thought up and developed. Notable in this respectis his work in the field of oscillating burning down lightcompositions [4] that resulted in the development of a40 mm intermittently lighting torch in the course of themillennium event. By means of those torches the 1808meridian on the Fiji-islands was illuminated for a distanceof 1.3 km to welcome the new millennium on December31, 1999 at 12:00 GMT. Furthermore a newly developed“liquid igniter composition” was applicable for example inLASER-inducible igniters, bridge wire and thin layer igniterelements for automotive uses [5] .

In addition to his developmental work Uwe Krone wasactively involved in a variety of national and internationalbodies around the field of pyrotechnics and explosives.These included the committee of experts for the ExplosivesAct at the German Ministry of Internal Affairs, the workinggroup “Storage of Explosives” at the German Ministry ofOccupational Safety, the German Society for Defence Tech-nology, the US “National Defence Industrial Association”and the “International Pyrotechnic Society”, of which hewas a founding member.

He applied his expertise as a publicly appointed andsworn valuer for pyrotechnics, as a technical spokesman ofthe German Association of Pyrotechnic Industries (VPI) andas a Technical Consultant of Glorious Fireworks Ltd. China.His latest activities beyond his retirement related to the im-plementation of a quality assurance and occupationalsafety system in the Chinese fireworks industry.

Another important desire of Uwe Krone was to pass onand expand on pyrotechnical knowledge. As the head oflaboratory he supervised the qualification of seven chemi-cal laboratory assistants. In addition he was an advisor atthe German “Berufsgenossenschaft” of the chemical indus-try, and the scientific head of pyrotechnic seminars at theCarl-Cranz-Society (CCG). Together with Ronald Lancaster

Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 2012, 37, 7 – 8 � 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 7

Obituary

he is the author of the chapter “Pyrotechnics” in Ullmann‘sEncyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry [6] .

The whole explosive community will miss his inspirationand advice. Many have lost a good friend.

Dirk Cegiel

[1] U. Krone, M. Koop, Entwicklung und Wirkungsweiseeines Pyrotechnischen D��ngeaerosolgenerators, in: Aero-sold�ngung gesch�digter Vegetation Teil I, Report, 1988,Nico-Pyrotechnik, Hanns-J�rgen Diederichs GmbH & Co.KG, Trittau, Germany.

[2] C. M. Jenden, NATO Smoke and Obscurants Counter-measures Materials Evaluation Tests (SOCMET), AGARD Con-ference Proceedings : Atmospheric Propagation Effectsthrough Natural and Man-Made Obscurants for Visible toMM-Wave Radiation, Report No. ADA276919, Ministry of De-fence and Pyrotechnics, 1993.

[3] Smoke and Obscurants Countermeasures EvaluationTests, Defence Research Agency (DRA), Fort Halstead, GB,1995.

[4] U. Krone, Strahlungsemission in Intervallen – Oszillier-ende Verbrennung pyrotechnischer S�tze, Jahrestagung ICT,Karlsruhe, Germany, Juni 11–13, 1975, p. 225.

[5] D. Cegiel, U. Krone, Pyrotechnic Igniter Compositions inDisperse Phase – Production and Application, Airbag 2000+5th International Symposium and Exhibition on SophisticatedCar Occupant Safety Systems, Karlsruhe, Germany, December4 – 6, 2000, p. 34.

[6] U. Krone, R. Lancaster, Pyrotechnics, in: B. Elvers, S. Haw-kins, W. Russey, G. Schulz, (Eds.), Ullmann’s Encyclopedia ofIndustrial Chemistry, Volume A22, 5th edition, VCH, Wein-heim 1993, p. 437

Dirk Cegiel, Rheinmetall Defence, Trittan, Germany

8 www.pep.wiley-vch.de � 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 2012, 37, 7 – 8

Obituary Dirk Cegiel