Wednesday, July 30, 2008

When the chips are down

I hope this is one of the questions at the Trivia Night on Saturday: Which retired organic chemist and food storage technician was buried in one of his inventions - and what was it? (... Play thinking music ...) And the answer is Dr Fredric Baur, who was so proud of his invention of the Pringles Chips container that he asked his family to bury him one - and they did. Well, actually, according to Wikipedia, it was a three-way split, but we won't go there here. Dr Baur also invented freeze-dried ice cream (not to be confused with astronaut ice cream - where you just had to add milk) put it in the freezer, and then, hey presto (some time later) - ice cream. Prior to his work in food and packaging, (Dr) Baur was an aviation physiologist in the Navy doing work on the medical aspects of flight (which only just then struck me as strange ... Navy ... Boats?) In his later life, he became a compliance specialist, with a worldwide reputation in plant sanitation. But he was never as proud of his other achievements as he was of the Pringles technology. So next time you're about to pop a tube ... spare a thought for Dr Baur - without whom it would not have been possible.

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