According to the note of Ms. Fumiko Yamazaki, the president of the lady’s
association of Japanese universities, ladies from various countries were invited to
attend and three languages were used in the lecture. They also enjoyed the party
with the Staudingers in the garden blooming azalea.
The most commemorative highlight event took place in the middle of the month:
on the 17th, Hermann and Magda Staudinger were invited to deliver a lecture on
macromolecular chemistry in the presence of Emperor Hirohito at the Imperial
Palace. The Emperor was known to be a biologist. He naively raised a question on
the main theme of the lecture on macromolecules. “Is this a concept that came
into your mind to explain various phenomenological behaviors of a group of
compounds, or did you really prove their existence by rigorous scientific means?”
Professor Staudinger was astonishingly impressed by this pertinent interrogation.
The conversation went on and on for almost 1 h beyond the time (20 min) allotted to
this ceremonial meeting.
2.2 Who Carried Out the Mission to Promote Public
Awareness of the Macromolecular Concept in Japan?
After all, Staudinger’s visit was a big event for the polymer community, intended to
attract public attention to this newly emerging field of science and technology.
Documents from those days indicate that SPSJ, which was established in 1951,
continued to grow by gaining about 400 members each year until the trend stopped
because of the oil crisis in the early 1970s (Sect. 6).
In connection with the strong growth of polymer science and technology in
Japan, readers might be curious about what had happened to those who witnessed
the hot debate on the macromolecular concept, as the associates of relevant parties
in Germany. Four students studied in Staudinger’s laboratory in the 1920s.
Ryuzaburo Nodzu, who was known for his contribution to Staudinger’s viscosity
formula, became a professor of organic chemistry at Kyoto University, but he
Fig. 3 Ladies’ program in
Tokyo
142
A. Abe
association of Japanese universities, ladies from various countries were invited to
attend and three languages were used in the lecture. They also enjoyed the party
with the Staudingers in the garden blooming azalea.
The most commemorative highlight event took place in the middle of the month:
on the 17th, Hermann and Magda Staudinger were invited to deliver a lecture on
macromolecular chemistry in the presence of Emperor Hirohito at the Imperial
Palace. The Emperor was known to be a biologist. He naively raised a question on
the main theme of the lecture on macromolecules. “Is this a concept that came
into your mind to explain various phenomenological behaviors of a group of
compounds, or did you really prove their existence by rigorous scientific means?”
Professor Staudinger was astonishingly impressed by this pertinent interrogation.
The conversation went on and on for almost 1 h beyond the time (20 min) allotted to
this ceremonial meeting.
2.2 Who Carried Out the Mission to Promote Public
Awareness of the Macromolecular Concept in Japan?
After all, Staudinger’s visit was a big event for the polymer community, intended to
attract public attention to this newly emerging field of science and technology.
Documents from those days indicate that SPSJ, which was established in 1951,
continued to grow by gaining about 400 members each year until the trend stopped
because of the oil crisis in the early 1970s (Sect. 6).
In connection with the strong growth of polymer science and technology in
Japan, readers might be curious about what had happened to those who witnessed
the hot debate on the macromolecular concept, as the associates of relevant parties
in Germany. Four students studied in Staudinger’s laboratory in the 1920s.
Ryuzaburo Nodzu, who was known for his contribution to Staudinger’s viscosity
formula, became a professor of organic chemistry at Kyoto University, but he
Fig. 3 Ladies’ program in
Tokyo
142
A. Abe