19.12.2001 – 15:52

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG

A major German inventor of the modern era
Dr. Rudolf Hell is 100 years old today

Heidelberg, Germany (ots)

- Cross-reference: photo is available at:       
  www.presseportal.de/story.htx?nr=310375&action=bigpic&att=12292

The major German inventor Dr. Rudolf
Hell is celebrating his 100th birthday today. To commemorate this
great event, the City of Kiel and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
(Heidelberg) are honoring Dr. Hell at a ceremony in Kiel City Hall.

Dr. Rudolf Hell is one of the greatest inventors of the modern
era. Born in Bavaria, Dr. Hell has worked in both Berlin and Kiel as
a scientist, engineer and entrepreneur. His technical achievements
and inventions have played a major role in shaping the face of
today's media world. He is the inventor of fax technology and a
pioneer in the field of telecommunications. He put in place the key
pillars needed for mechanizing, rationalizing and enhancing the
quality of modern media technology.

Dr. Hell was made a freeman of the City of Kiel in 1981. He has
received numerous awards such as the Knight Commander's Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Gutenberg
Prize awarded by the City of Mainz and the Werner von Siemens Ring.
In May 2001, the City of Kiel named a street in his honor - the
former Siemenswall leading to the Heidelberg plant now being known as
Dr.-Hell-Strasse.

Dr. Rudolf Hell founded his own company in the Babelsberg district
of Berlin in 1929. In 1981 Dr.-Ing. Rudolf Hell GmbH was taken over
by Siemens and in 1990 was merged into Linotype AG to become
Linotype-Hell AG. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG took over
Linotype-Hell AG in Kiel in 1996 in order to extend its core skills
in the prepress sector. The Kiel plant therefore has a key role to
play in Heidelberg's repositioning as a solutions provider in the
print and media industry. Today, a 1500-strong workforce in Kiel
produces scanners, imaging systems and software for supporting the
print process. The development and production of the NexPress 2100, a
digital color press launched onto the market in September 2001, has
further reinforced the plant's operations.

Photos are available on the Internet at
www.journalist.heidelberg.com.

Further information:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Christiane Creutzberg
Tel.: 06221 92 50 48
Fax:  06221 92 50 58
E-mail:  christiane.creutzberg@de.heidelberg.com

Original-Content von: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell