A true discoverer and entrepreneur – 85th birthday of Dr Herbert Knauer

As the German chemist Justus Freiherr von Liebig once said: "The secret of all those who make discoveries is that they regard nothing as impossible." For Dr Knauer measuring the temperature of a solution with an accuracy of 1/1000 degree was a task that did not seem impossible. On September 12, 2016, he celebrated his 85^th birthday.

The highly accurate temperature measurement device was the basis of Herbert Knauer’s successful osmometers. Together with his wife Roswitha, he founded the company in 1962. Even though during almost 55 years of KNAUER company history many things seemed impossible, Herbert and Roswitha never gave up. With their entrepreneurial spirit and inventiveness they succeeded to build up a prosperous international company.

Since 2000, KNAUER Wissenschaftliche Geräte GmbH has been managed by Alexandra Knauer, the third child of Herbert and Roswitha Knauer. While the company is still based in Berlin-Zehlendorf, the number of employees has grown to 130. Even today, Roswitha and Herbert Knauer are active in the daily business of the company: Roswitha Knauer supports the management and maintains her long lasting business contacts in Germany and abroad. Herbert Knauer on the other hand does what he loves, works meticulously at his workbench and observes the developments in the HPLC industry. Quite many in the HPLC business today have been working at or with KNAUER some day in the past. It is safe to say that KNAUER has been like a school for entrepreneurs of the laboratory technology market, which makes Herbert Knauer happy.

Dr Knauer can truly be proud of what he has achieved and of the direction that the company has taken under the leadership of his daughter. KNAUER today provides highly efficient HPLC systems in the market, which are characterised through ease-of-use and modern features. Moreover, KNAUER products are manufactured in Berlin, where they are developed from idea up to the packaging.

Numerous awards for technology and applications as well as positive organic sales developments reveal that at KNAUER innovation is not just a word but a fact honoured by the users of KNAUER products.

For his 85^th birthday Herbert Knauer received a film on his life’s work. See here what Herbert and Roswitha Knauer have achieved together and the wishes they have for the future.