had a permanent office in the Haus. Gerhard Wegner and Hans-Joachim Cantow
were doing research at the top of the field and, at the same time, they were some of
the best science administrators I have ever met. Everybody had lunch and dinner at
the cafeteria across the street and there was nothing unusual to see people working
in the laboratories at 1 or 2 am. Initially, I thought that all were immigrants like me
but soon I learned that they were not. This was the working style in the Haus at that
time. Hermann Staudinger Haus was excelling in “as good as possible structural
analysis and characterization of the organic molecules and macromolecules,” just
as Staudinger did in his own work, to convince the world about macromolecular
compounds being what they are. Both Cantow and Wegner explained everything I
needed to know about being a scientist on any continent and in any country in this
world since both had been postdoctoral students in the USA and felt at home in any
country where the word “polymer” was known. Cantow and his wife took a
vacation for a while and let me stay in their home. They said, here is the house,
one car, the refrigerator with everything needed to eat, the swimming pool, and the
wine cellar. Use everything you need. I used only one of their bicycles. Before the
end of August, Joseph P. Kennedy learned about my decision and renewed an
invitation to join his laboratory, which previously I had to refuse due to travel
restrictions. When I considered going to the USA, Cantow asked, “why not stay in
Germany?” I said, “I have a wife and a young daughter; what do I do here, and how
do I bring them here?” His answer was that he believed that I would be a professor
in Germany quite soon. I knew that I was an immigrant and I flew to USA several
days before my passport was going to expire. One of the first people that I met after
joining Kennedy’s laboratory was Hermann F. Mark, who was attending an Anniversary of the Institute of Polymer Science from the University of Akron. While I
was shaking his hand I reminded him that I had met him when he visited Iasi many
years ago. He looked at me and said, “of course I remember you!” How could he
when there were so many undergraduates like me in the same laboratory with me
during his visit many years ago to Iasi? But he was a charming person. When I
mentioned that I had decided to stay in the USA, he immediately continued, “Virgil,
welcome to this country! Now you are one of Ours!” This statement by Hermann
F. Mark set the beginning of my life in the USA and made me never regret that I
never definitively returned to Europe on the many occasions that I was offered the
opportunity. About 1 month later, I heard that Ringsdorf was giving a plenary
lecture at the local ACS meeting in Rochester, New York. I borrowed a car and
drove for the first time in my life on a highway during a strong rain with a driving
license from a country I was sure that no policeman in the USA had ever heard of. I
saw Ringsdorf at the end of his lecture. He was talking to a very young man whom
he said to me that I must know. I shook the hand of the young man and he told me
his name: David Tirrell. Ringsdorf took the rest of the day off from the meeting and
advised me on science and life in the USA. The comments of Wegner and
Ringsdorf on living in the USA were as good and reliable as their science. After
5 months in Kennedy’s laboratory I joined Case Western Reserve University as a
176
V. Percec
were doing research at the top of the field and, at the same time, they were some of
the best science administrators I have ever met. Everybody had lunch and dinner at
the cafeteria across the street and there was nothing unusual to see people working
in the laboratories at 1 or 2 am. Initially, I thought that all were immigrants like me
but soon I learned that they were not. This was the working style in the Haus at that
time. Hermann Staudinger Haus was excelling in “as good as possible structural
analysis and characterization of the organic molecules and macromolecules,” just
as Staudinger did in his own work, to convince the world about macromolecular
compounds being what they are. Both Cantow and Wegner explained everything I
needed to know about being a scientist on any continent and in any country in this
world since both had been postdoctoral students in the USA and felt at home in any
country where the word “polymer” was known. Cantow and his wife took a
vacation for a while and let me stay in their home. They said, here is the house,
one car, the refrigerator with everything needed to eat, the swimming pool, and the
wine cellar. Use everything you need. I used only one of their bicycles. Before the
end of August, Joseph P. Kennedy learned about my decision and renewed an
invitation to join his laboratory, which previously I had to refuse due to travel
restrictions. When I considered going to the USA, Cantow asked, “why not stay in
Germany?” I said, “I have a wife and a young daughter; what do I do here, and how
do I bring them here?” His answer was that he believed that I would be a professor
in Germany quite soon. I knew that I was an immigrant and I flew to USA several
days before my passport was going to expire. One of the first people that I met after
joining Kennedy’s laboratory was Hermann F. Mark, who was attending an Anniversary of the Institute of Polymer Science from the University of Akron. While I
was shaking his hand I reminded him that I had met him when he visited Iasi many
years ago. He looked at me and said, “of course I remember you!” How could he
when there were so many undergraduates like me in the same laboratory with me
during his visit many years ago to Iasi? But he was a charming person. When I
mentioned that I had decided to stay in the USA, he immediately continued, “Virgil,
welcome to this country! Now you are one of Ours!” This statement by Hermann
F. Mark set the beginning of my life in the USA and made me never regret that I
never definitively returned to Europe on the many occasions that I was offered the
opportunity. About 1 month later, I heard that Ringsdorf was giving a plenary
lecture at the local ACS meeting in Rochester, New York. I borrowed a car and
drove for the first time in my life on a highway during a strong rain with a driving
license from a country I was sure that no policeman in the USA had ever heard of. I
saw Ringsdorf at the end of his lecture. He was talking to a very young man whom
he said to me that I must know. I shook the hand of the young man and he told me
his name: David Tirrell. Ringsdorf took the rest of the day off from the meeting and
advised me on science and life in the USA. The comments of Wegner and
Ringsdorf on living in the USA were as good and reliable as their science. After
5 months in Kennedy’s laboratory I joined Case Western Reserve University as a
176
V. Percec