Michael Streicher

In 1973, Streicher received the Willis Rodney Whitney Award given to one scientist each year by NACE International, which is a professional organization devoted to corrosion and related problems.

Streicher also received other prestigious awards, including Fellow of the American Society for Metals (1970) and Fellow of NACE (1994).

Michael A. Streicher (September 6, 1921 – February 14, 2006) was an American metallurgist and engineer who became internationally recognized for his work on the testing and development of corrosion-resistant stainless steel alloys. He published widely in technical journals and textbooks and received numerous patents for his inventions.

He was born on September 6, 1921, in Heidelberg, Germany, the son of Johann Simon Streicher and Olga Schmidt Streicher. He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1931. Streicher received a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1943, an M.S. degree in chemical engineering from Syracuse University in 1945, and a doctorate in metallurgy from Lehigh University in 1947. The latter degree and subsequent postdoctoral research were sponsored by the U.S. Army Signal Corps. For 30 years, from 1949 to 1979, Streicher worked as a research metallurgist at the Experimental Station of the DuPont Co. in Wilmington, Delaware. He began as a research engineer, advancing to the positions of research fellow and principal consultant. For the next eight years, he served as research professor at the University of Delaware in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Thereafter, he worked as an independent consultant, including work with the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) on safe storage containers for nuclear waste.