Dr. Frederick A. (Fritz) Hauck of Cincinnati, Ohio—at the age of 101—is truly a “living legend” of the mining industry.
This scientist, nuclear pioneer, businessman, citizen, explorer, and philanthropist has said, “I’m too interested in work to quit now.”
Over a century in which he worked with Albert Einstein and Albert Sabin; mined for silver with the Indians in Mexico; discovered zirconium in the beach sands of Florida, leading to the creation of Continental Mineral Processing Company of Sharonville, Ohio; and studied space technology and developed with the University of Florida a gas-core nuclear-reactor engine—Dr. Hauck has played a pivotal role in American history.
Hauck nearly “lost it all” in 1919, when he was diagnosed with endocarditis, a leakage of the heart. He was given a year and one-half to live; he has since outlived all of his doctors by decades!
That brush with death led him to become involved with the medical field as a supplier of surgical tools. From there he bought out his father’s mining company in Mexico for then pennies on the dollar and got all the mining and timber rights.
Hauck struck a deal with the Yaqui Indians, who led him to the silver veins (the market price then $4 per ounce). The Hunt Brothers from Dallas then cornered the market to $50 per ounce and Hauck got the Hunts’ money.
In 1948, Hauck believed that the Florida beaches contained valuable minerals. A lab test at the Battelle Institute confirmed his findings. DuPont currently mines zirconium, a mineral crucial to our national defense, at one of his deposits.
At present, Dr. Hauck is working on creating a fuel for a cleaner future. His Hauck Space Engine uses a gaseous form of uranium to make nuclear energy more efficient. He has provided the funding for this project and has helped created the nuclear science library at the University of Florida, which bears his name.
Dr. Hauck has endowed chairs in the natural sciences at universities and colleges, to plazas built for Christopher Columbus’ quincentennial (with marble from Columbus’ hometown), to new and improved facilities in Hauck’s hometown of Cincinnati.
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. became the recipient of his extensive collection of gold coins in 1964. The value of his collection is over $1 million.
Today, Dr. Hauk goes to his office five days a week and most Saturdays, there to look down on his city’s landmarks, most of which he preserved. His advice: “Take care of yourself and your mind.” A biography of him written by Priscilla Petty is entitled Under a Lucky Star (1986).
