Jörg C. Meyer is the official scientific glassblower of the University of California, Irvine.[1][2][3]

Meyer was born in Berlin, Germany,[3] and learned glassblowing from his father and grandfather, who both worked in the same trade.[1][3] He traveled to Australia, and blew glass for the Australian National University in Canberra, before moving again to Southern California.[3] He was hired at UC Irvine by chemist Frank Sherwood Rowland at the founding of the university in 1965,[1] and worked with Rowland and Mario J. Molina on their Nobel-prize-winning research on ozone depletion.[2] As well as making scientific equipment for chemists, physicists, and atmospheric scientists, his creations have included a glass baseball mitt for Ralph J. Cicerone and a non-functional glass clarinet for UCI chemist Harold W. Moore.[1]

Meyer has also developed stainless steel machinery for drying and purifying solvents, replacing previous methods using glassware that had a tendency to shatter.[2][4] While working at UC Irvine in 1967, Meyer and his wife Allison founded a small company, GlassContour (now Seca Solvent Systems), through which he commercialized this purification process.[5] The Meyers sold GlassContour in 2004 and in 2010 founded a second company, JC Meyer Solvent Systems, which also sells Meyer's stainless steel purification systems.[6]

As well as for his glass and solvent purification work, Meyer is known for his appearance in a National Geographic magazine photo in 1965, riding a 40-foot whale shark as a professional diver in Australia.[3][7] He is also a falconer[3] and has helped to rehabilitate injured birds of prey.[7]

In 2015, Meyer won the annual award for outstanding staff achievement of the UC Irvine Alumni Association.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Robbins, Gary (October 7, 2006), "The glass blower's son", Orange County Register.
  2. 1 2 3 Lawhon, Cathy (August 25, 2008), "Science by fire: Scientific glassblower Jorg Meyer has contributed to chemistry discoveries for more than four decades", UCI News.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sanchez, Gabriel J. (April 8, 2014), Glass for Science, UC Irvine School of Physical Sciences.
  4. ↑ "Solvent safety", Letters, Chemical & Engineering News, 80 (25): 8–12, June 24, 2002.
  5. ↑ History of Seca Solvent Systems, retrieved 2015-05-15.
  6. ↑ About us, JC Meyer Solvent Systems, retrieved 2015-05-15.
  7. 1 2 "Injured Diver Responding to Decompression, His Wife Says", Los Angeles Times, October 29, 1986.
  8. ↑ Rico, Laura (April 3, 2015), "Lauds & Laurels to salute 18 campus luminaries", UCI News.
  • Science by Fire, 12-minute video documentary by Matthew Cunningham, University of Southern California, 2008
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