Julius Scherzer

Julius Scherzer (born 17 February 1928) is a retired chemist. He has published two scientific-technical books, and two editions of an autobiography, along with dozens of scientific papers.

Early life Julius Scherzer was born on 17 February 1928, in Czernowitz, Romania, (the city that is now Chernivtsi, Ukraine). The son of an attorney, he grew up in a secular, German-speaking Jewish family. He attended grade school and first year middle school under the Romanians.

Life under foreign occupation In 1940, after the takeover of the city by the Soviets (a result of the Hitler-Stalin pact), Scherzer attended one year of middle school under the Soviets. Following the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Germans and their fascists Romanian allies in 1941, Czernowitz came again under Romanian rule. Scherzer and his family (parents and sister) were forced into the city's ghetto, which they survived. After liberation by the Red Army in 1944, Julius finished middle- and high school under the Soviets.

In 1974, while working at the Research Division of the W.R. Grace Co., Scherzer got a master's degree in environmental science from Johns Hopkins University.

During his career, Scherzer had more than 40 scientific articles published and was named as the holder or co-holder of over 50 patents.

After retiring from Unocal, Scherzer wrote an autobiographical/historical novel. The first edition was published in 2005 under the title “While the Gods were silent: Growing up under Fascists and Communists.” A second, revised edition was published in 2014 under the title “In the Vortex.”