was forfeited by the US government as falling under the Alien Property Custodian act prompting a seven-year litigation, ending in favor of William Kroll, though litigation fees of over $1 million ate up the compensation awarded. Slowly the US government and the industry began to recognize the potential of titanium. The US government established a research center in Boulder, Colorado in 1944, and in late 1948, Dupont de Nemours began the commercial production of titanium using the Kroll process. Meanwhile, Kroll's focus had turned to zirconium. He became a consulting metallurgist to the United States, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines in 1945 at their research facility at Albany, Oregon. The first zirconium strip was rolled out there in August 1946. In 1951, William Kroll joined the faculty of Oregon State College, established a non-profit Metal Research Foundation awarding scholarships and grants in the USA and in Europe. Dr. William J. Kroll returned to Europe in 1961 where he died in Brussels on March 30, 1973. One of his lasting legacies in the United States is the Kroll Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, established in 1974: "The Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy (KIEM) was established in 1974 in accordance with a bequest from William J. Kroll, world-renowned extractive metallurgist best known for his inventions of processes for the production of titanium and zirconium. The financial resources of Dr. Kroll's bequest were intended to provide for the establishment of a Center for Excellence in Extractive Metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines. Since its inception, the Kroll Institute has provided financial support to both undergraduate and graduate students at CSM, many of whom, subsequently, have made important contributions, nationally and internationally, to the fields of mining, minerals, metals and advanced materials." Honors and awards Kroll was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2000. Among his other awards were the Francis J. Clamer Medal in 1954, the Albert Sauveur Achievement Award from the American Society for Metals in 1955 and the Perkin Medal in 1958. He was also awarded the Acheson Award by the Electrochemical Society in 1958. Kroll has a street named after him in Luxembourg City, in the business district of Gasperich, and in Esch-sur-Alzette. In September 2018, a vocational high school in Esch/Alzette in Luxembourg, Lycée technique d'Esch-sur-Alzette, changed its name to Lycée Guillaume-Kroll. References External links Inventors Hall of