“The Freiburg Institute was no longer the world leader in the polymer field in the 50s.
Although the work done there was sound, it was generally classical. As the head of the
institute, Hermann Staudinger definitely continued to focus too much on the virulent and
tough battles he had fought in the 1920s. Hermann Mark, on the other hand, had activated
macromolecular chemistry on a broad basis in the USA after the war. He brought physicists,
chemists and technologists together and developed a modern version of polymer science as
a result. This gave the institute in Brooklyn the prominent international position it held at
the time. This development took somewhat longer at Staudinger’s institute [. . .]. I only
learned in Brooklyn what new developments were going on in polymer chemistry.”
(Quoted in [19], p. 150)
The two worlds then collided in 1957: Staudinger accepted an invitation to
Brooklyn that Mark issued to him to give a lecture there. He was received “as the
polymer pioneer, as the person ‘who led the polymer crusade’” [19, p. 186].
Staudinger did not make a good impression, however. Ringsdorf remembers:
I arranged the slides for Staudinger’s lectures back then and so I knew what he was going to
talk about. Compared with what was being done in Brooklyn at the time, it has to be said
that these lectures almost represented the dark ages of polymer science. I can make this
statement particularly emphatically, because I still have the original slides [. . .] of the last
four lectures. The young people in Brooklyn in particular certainly admired and revered
Hermann Staudinger at this time as the grand old man of macromolecular chemistry. They
were probably forgiving about what he said, particularly in view of the fact that he spoke in
German. (Quoted in [19], pp. 186–187; cf. [40], p. 25)
1957 was also the year when Staudinger gave guest lectures in Japan. This was
the country where his early writings about high-molecular organic compounds were
still revered as if they were the Bible (see [40], p. 20). During this stay, Staudinger
met the Tenno, the Japanese Emperor [40, pp. 20, 26]. In 1958, Staudinger headed
the German delegation at the international “Science House” at the World Fair in
Brussels. He continued to receive honours as well: Staudinger was awarded the
Grand Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany twice more, in 1957 with
Star and in 1965 with Star and Sash. “He had good fortune that only a few scientists
share: being able to experience and enjoy all the success of his work”, Kru ¨ll ([11],
p. 49) writes about Staudinger’s retirement. His health deteriorated, however;
Staudinger had heart problems [47, p. 93]. “His intellect remained keen, however,
and he continued to be interested in world affairs and the progress made in
macromolecular science right until the end. Hermann Staudinger was still able to
experience the beginning of space travel in the form of the first satellites. He was
told that this development was only possible because there are macromolecular
materials that stand the conditions encountered in space. Hermann Staudinger spent
the summer of 1965 in his garden, thoroughly enjoying his flowers. He then passed
away on 8 September 1965” [40, p. 27]. He was laid to rest in the central cemetery
in Freiburg. The obituaries about the 84-year-old included the following
statements:
• “An unusually bright star in the chemistry sky has now died – one that in recent decades
cast radiant light on many areas of chemistry that had been dark beforehand” [48,
p. XLI].
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M. Weber and G. Deussing
Although the work done there was sound, it was generally classical. As the head of the
institute, Hermann Staudinger definitely continued to focus too much on the virulent and
tough battles he had fought in the 1920s. Hermann Mark, on the other hand, had activated
macromolecular chemistry on a broad basis in the USA after the war. He brought physicists,
chemists and technologists together and developed a modern version of polymer science as
a result. This gave the institute in Brooklyn the prominent international position it held at
the time. This development took somewhat longer at Staudinger’s institute [. . .]. I only
learned in Brooklyn what new developments were going on in polymer chemistry.”
(Quoted in [19], p. 150)
The two worlds then collided in 1957: Staudinger accepted an invitation to
Brooklyn that Mark issued to him to give a lecture there. He was received “as the
polymer pioneer, as the person ‘who led the polymer crusade’” [19, p. 186].
Staudinger did not make a good impression, however. Ringsdorf remembers:
I arranged the slides for Staudinger’s lectures back then and so I knew what he was going to
talk about. Compared with what was being done in Brooklyn at the time, it has to be said
that these lectures almost represented the dark ages of polymer science. I can make this
statement particularly emphatically, because I still have the original slides [. . .] of the last
four lectures. The young people in Brooklyn in particular certainly admired and revered
Hermann Staudinger at this time as the grand old man of macromolecular chemistry. They
were probably forgiving about what he said, particularly in view of the fact that he spoke in
German. (Quoted in [19], pp. 186–187; cf. [40], p. 25)
1957 was also the year when Staudinger gave guest lectures in Japan. This was
the country where his early writings about high-molecular organic compounds were
still revered as if they were the Bible (see [40], p. 20). During this stay, Staudinger
met the Tenno, the Japanese Emperor [40, pp. 20, 26]. In 1958, Staudinger headed
the German delegation at the international “Science House” at the World Fair in
Brussels. He continued to receive honours as well: Staudinger was awarded the
Grand Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany twice more, in 1957 with
Star and in 1965 with Star and Sash. “He had good fortune that only a few scientists
share: being able to experience and enjoy all the success of his work”, Kru ¨ll ([11],
p. 49) writes about Staudinger’s retirement. His health deteriorated, however;
Staudinger had heart problems [47, p. 93]. “His intellect remained keen, however,
and he continued to be interested in world affairs and the progress made in
macromolecular science right until the end. Hermann Staudinger was still able to
experience the beginning of space travel in the form of the first satellites. He was
told that this development was only possible because there are macromolecular
materials that stand the conditions encountered in space. Hermann Staudinger spent
the summer of 1965 in his garden, thoroughly enjoying his flowers. He then passed
away on 8 September 1965” [40, p. 27]. He was laid to rest in the central cemetery
in Freiburg. The obituaries about the 84-year-old included the following
statements:
• “An unusually bright star in the chemistry sky has now died – one that in recent decades
cast radiant light on many areas of chemistry that had been dark beforehand” [48,
p. XLI].
132
M. Weber and G. Deussing