William Justin Kroll

Working in Germany, in 1918, Kroll invented a very efficient bearing alloy based on lead, commercialized under the name Lurgi metal, and he was awarded various metallurgy related patents.

Kroll visited the US, arriving in New York aboard the SS Queen Mary from Cherbourg, France on October 18, 1938.

The US government established a research center in Boulder, Colorado in 1944, and in late 1948, Dupont de Nemours began the commercial production of titanium using the Kroll process.

He became a consulting metallurgist to the United States, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines in 1945 at their research facility at Albany, Oregon.

In 1951, William Kroll joined the faculty of Oregon State College, established a non-profit Metal Research Foundation awarding scholarships and grants in the USA and in Europe.

The financial resources of Dr. Kroll's bequest were intended to provide for the establishment of a Center for Excellence in Extractive Metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines.

Since its inception, the Kroll Institute has provided financial support to both undergraduate and graduate students at CSM, many of whom, subsequently, have made important contributions, nationally and internationally, to the fields of mining, minerals, metals and advanced materials."