protagonists. Staudinger’s conclusive experiment, the hydrogenation of polystyrene
[5], is a key element in teaching polymers to beginners. I teach in an institution with a
long record and a legacy of analytical chemistry (http://www.gdch.de/gdch/
historische-staetten-der-chemie.html. Accessed 26 August 2013). Carl Remigius
Fresenius and Hermann Staudinger shared the conviction that correct characterization
of materials is the basis for all research in chemistry (see Sect. 3.3).
With stories and anecdotes about scientists in their historical periods, a teacher
can add personal flavour to the lessons in his field of science. In this respect,
Hermann Staudinger and Hermann F. Mark are wonderful examples: Not only
their essential factual contributions, but also their enthusiasm, zeal, tenacity, conflicts
and devotion in their times shaped our modern understanding of macromolecules.
2.4 Hermann Staudinger and Hermann F. Mark: A
Wonderful Example of a Short, Intensive Scientific
Competition, but a Lifelong Human Relationship
After my time in Freiburg (1955–1959), I stayed for nearly 3 years (1960–1962) as
research associate at Brooklyn Poly in New York. This was a wonderful time for me
to come to know both Staudinger and Mark, not only as scientists.
Sure, there was polymer technology and polymer science in the USA before
Hermann F. Mark. One just has to look at W. H. Carothers, the great American
pioneer in polymer science and technology, active at the Experimental Station in
Dupont, Wilmington in the early 1930s. After Mark was kicked out of Austria by the
Nazis in the 1930s, he started at the end of the 1940s at Brooklyn Poly (New York) to
pull the American polymer community together. It was nobody less than Paul Flory
who stated this during a seminar in Brooklyn in about 1979 – I had the good fortune
to be part of it. After having been introduced warm heartedly and with Austrian
charm by Mark, Flory repeated smilingly “ . . . sure, we got another award for our
research in California but the man who unified polymer science in our country was
Hermann Mark. I think we can respect him as the “Father of polymer science in
America”. Not only for me was this a distinguished remark from somebody who
normally had the tendency to be a little bit more on the aggressive side.
Hermann Mark’s lifelong relationship with Hermann Staudinger was always
open and positive. His sympathy and esteem for him cannot be better expressed
than in his “Foreword” to the translation of Staudinger’s Arbeitserinnerungen
(entitled From organic chemistry to macromolecules. a scientific autobiography
based on my original papers [2]) During my time at Brooklyn Poly (1960–1962)
I often heard him talking about the old days, the 1920s and his contact with
Staudinger in both conflict-rich and “peaceful” times. Remembering all this, it is a
pleasure to cite from Mark’s “Foreword” [6]:
. . .. In the clarified atmosphere of hindsight it becomes evident that Staudinger’s impact on
his time was caused by a triple role which he kept on playing with never failing enthusiasm
for more than forty years; as explorer, teacher, and preacher. Guided by true scientific
A Moment of Reflection: Sixty Years After the Nobel Prize for Hermann Staudinger
9
[5], is a key element in teaching polymers to beginners. I teach in an institution with a
long record and a legacy of analytical chemistry (http://www.gdch.de/gdch/
historische-staetten-der-chemie.html. Accessed 26 August 2013). Carl Remigius
Fresenius and Hermann Staudinger shared the conviction that correct characterization
of materials is the basis for all research in chemistry (see Sect. 3.3).
With stories and anecdotes about scientists in their historical periods, a teacher
can add personal flavour to the lessons in his field of science. In this respect,
Hermann Staudinger and Hermann F. Mark are wonderful examples: Not only
their essential factual contributions, but also their enthusiasm, zeal, tenacity, conflicts
and devotion in their times shaped our modern understanding of macromolecules.
2.4 Hermann Staudinger and Hermann F. Mark: A
Wonderful Example of a Short, Intensive Scientific
Competition, but a Lifelong Human Relationship
After my time in Freiburg (1955–1959), I stayed for nearly 3 years (1960–1962) as
research associate at Brooklyn Poly in New York. This was a wonderful time for me
to come to know both Staudinger and Mark, not only as scientists.
Sure, there was polymer technology and polymer science in the USA before
Hermann F. Mark. One just has to look at W. H. Carothers, the great American
pioneer in polymer science and technology, active at the Experimental Station in
Dupont, Wilmington in the early 1930s. After Mark was kicked out of Austria by the
Nazis in the 1930s, he started at the end of the 1940s at Brooklyn Poly (New York) to
pull the American polymer community together. It was nobody less than Paul Flory
who stated this during a seminar in Brooklyn in about 1979 – I had the good fortune
to be part of it. After having been introduced warm heartedly and with Austrian
charm by Mark, Flory repeated smilingly “ . . . sure, we got another award for our
research in California but the man who unified polymer science in our country was
Hermann Mark. I think we can respect him as the “Father of polymer science in
America”. Not only for me was this a distinguished remark from somebody who
normally had the tendency to be a little bit more on the aggressive side.
Hermann Mark’s lifelong relationship with Hermann Staudinger was always
open and positive. His sympathy and esteem for him cannot be better expressed
than in his “Foreword” to the translation of Staudinger’s Arbeitserinnerungen
(entitled From organic chemistry to macromolecules. a scientific autobiography
based on my original papers [2]) During my time at Brooklyn Poly (1960–1962)
I often heard him talking about the old days, the 1920s and his contact with
Staudinger in both conflict-rich and “peaceful” times. Remembering all this, it is a
pleasure to cite from Mark’s “Foreword” [6]:
. . .. In the clarified atmosphere of hindsight it becomes evident that Staudinger’s impact on
his time was caused by a triple role which he kept on playing with never failing enthusiasm
for more than forty years; as explorer, teacher, and preacher. Guided by true scientific
A Moment of Reflection: Sixty Years After the Nobel Prize for Hermann Staudinger
9