Fred Olsen
| Fredrich Olsen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 28, 1891 Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Died | November 2, 1986 (aged 95) Guilford, Connecticut |
| Citizenship |
 United States
|
| Nationality |
 United Kingdom
|
| Fields | chemistry |
| Institutions |
Picatinny Arsenal Western Cartridge Company Olin Corporation |
| Alma mater | Washington University in St. Louis |
| Known for | ball propellant |
Fredrich Olsen (1891–1986) was a British-born American chemist remembered as the inventor of ball propellant and as a donor to the art antiquities collections of Yale University, the University of Illinois, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Olsen was born 28 February 1891 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Following education in Canada, he began his professional career in 1917 as chief chemist for the Aetna Explosives Company of Gary, Indiana. When Aetna went out of business following World War I, Olsen worked at Picatinny Arsenal from 1919 to 1929 devising a remanufacturing process to preserve deteriorating military inventories of smokeless powder in artillery ammunition manufactured during World War I. He was then employed by the Western Cartridge Company of East Alton, Illinois, where he patented the Ball Powder® manufacturing process in 1933. Western Cartridge Company became an Olin Corporation subsidiary in 1944, and Olsen was appointed Olin's vice president for Research and Development in 1952.
Olsen and his wife, the former Florence Quittenton, were collectors of Coptic art, Pre-Columbian art, African Art, Modern Art and early Chinese art. He commissioned a house designed by Tony Smith in Guilford, Connecticut that was completed in 1953. He was also the original purchaser of Jackson Pollock's "Blue Poles." Following his retirement from Olin Corporation in 1956, they purchased a winter home in Antigua from which they explored the ancient Arawak realm. They traveled the rivers of Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela in dugout canoes. They also found Arawak artifacts on 22 of 27 Caribbean islands they visited.
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