Dr. Wilhelm Heraeus und Heinrich Heraeus followed in their father’s footsteps with a continued emphasis on research and development. They also brought on board a friend from their school days: Dr. Richard Küch, a physicist and chemist who forged solid contacts between Heraeus and the scientific world. His groundbreaking inventions and fundamental research laid the foundation for many of the activities the company pursues today.

Küch reached a milestone in 1899 when he discovered a process for obtaining high-purity and relatively bubble-free quartz glass from rock crystal by melting it using an oxyhydrogen blowpipe—a breakthrough with benefits for industry and medicine.