Grosch to receive Charles Goodyear Medal.

The recipient of the 2007 Charles Goodyear Medal is Dr. Karl-Alfred Grosch, a pioneer in friction and wear phenomena. The most prestigious award bestowed by the Rubber Division, ACS, will be presented at the group's spring meeting in Akron, OH on May 1. The award honors an individual for outstanding invention, innovation or development which resulted in significant change or contribution to the nature of the rubber industry.

Grosch earned a B.Sc. (Special Physics) from the University of London in 1958 and a Ph.D. (Science) from the school in 1963. He began his professional career as a laboratory assistant at the Malaysian Rubber Producers Research Association (MRPRA) in 1955 and was named the principal scientific officer in 1963. During this time, he worked with Dr. Adolph Schallamach and assisted him with his work on abrasion.

During this time he established that rolling friction and grip on dry roads are governed by the viscoelastic properties of rubber, but that the two cases involve different effective frequencies of deformation. This made it possible to understand how tread compounds could be developed to function well under both conditions, giving low rolling friction and high friction for traction and braking.

Grosch left MRPRA in 1969 and joined the European Tire Development Center of Uniroyal in Germany as tire evaluation manager. In 1975 he became development manager for commercial tires, a position he held until his retirement in 1988.

After his retirement, Grosch returned to research on friction and abrasion of rubber privately and developed the concept of the LAT 100 laboratory friction and abrasion test equipment which is now marketed by VMI Holland BV in the Netherlands. He was awarded the Colwyn Medal of the British Institute of Materials in 1997. (RW+)