LEYBOLD - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Company Owner and Founder of the GAEDE Archives
Manfred Dunkel took over the Cologne based company, a special factory for high-vacuum pumps and scientific teaching materials founded by E. Leybolds' Nachfolger, from his father-in law, Alfred Schmidt in 1931. Using the vacuum technology developed by W. Gaede, a university professor in Karlsruhe, he succeeded in expanding the process of high-vacuum technology. In 1952, he founded the subsidiary Leybold-Hochvakuumanlagen GmbH. In 1967, under his direction, the two companies merged with the Heraeus vacuum department in Hanau to form the Leybold Heraeus GmbH & Co.
In 1968, he retired into private life.
Dunkel held numerous honorary positions and received numerous awards. From 1964 to 1966, he was chairman of the metal industry's employers' association in Cologne, and from 1950 to 1969, he served as a board member of the association of German precision-mechanical and optical industry e.V. as well as a lay judge, commercial and employment judge in Cologne. Manfred Dunkel established the GAEDE Foundation in 1984 and laid the groundwork for its assets.