March 15, 2002 -- (WhatTheyThink.com) -- Dr. Rudolf Hell, a German inventor who pioneered technology that led to the fax and the color scanner, has died. He was 100. The Associated Press said the announcement came from the northern German city of Kiel, where Dr. Hell rebuilt his business in the 1940s after his factory in Berlin was destroyed during World War II. No cause of death was announced. In December, Dr. Hell celebrated his 100th birthday. To commemorate the event, the City of Kiel and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG honored him at a ceremony in Kiel City Hall. According to a release sent to WhatTheyThink.com by Heidelberg in December, “Dr. Rudolf Hell was one of the greatest inventors of the modern era. Born in Bavaria, Dr. Hell worked in both Berlin and Kiel as a scientist, engineer and entrepreneur. His technical achievements and inventions have played a major role in shaping the face of today's media world. He is the inventor of fax technology and a pioneer in the field of telecommunications. He put in place the key pillars needed for mechanizing, rationalizing and enhancing the quality of modern media technology. “Dr. Rudolf Hell founded his own company in the Babelsberg district of Berlin in 1929. In 1981 Dr.-Ing. Rudolf Hell GmbH was taken over by Siemens and in 1990 was merged into Linotype AG to become Linotype-Hell AG. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG took over Linotype-Hell AG in Kiel in 1996 in order to extend its core skills in the prepress sector. The Kiel plant therefore has a key role to play in Heidelberg's repositioning as a solutions provider in the print and media industry. Today, a 1500-strong workforce in Kiel produces scanners, imaging systems and software for supporting the print process. The development and production of the NexPress 2100, a digital color press launched onto the market in September 2001, has further reinforced the plant's operations.”