the Staatliches Forschungsinstitut fu ¨r Makromolekulare Chemie as the successor to
H.S. upon his final retirement in 1956.
Elfriede Husemann was not only an outstanding scientist but was also exceptionally skilled in the wheelings and dealings of academic affairs, both locally and
on the level of the state administration. She succeeded in reintegrating the
Forschungsinstitut into the University as the Institut fu ¨r Makromolekulare Chemie
(Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry) with its own identity; moreover, she
gained a second chaired professorship on the physical chemistry of macromolecules
for this Institute. This chair was first given to H.-J. C. in 1965. Her most impressive
achievement, however, was to gain support and financial means to create a brandnew laboratory building for the Institute, which was eventually finished in 1962.
These were all achievements that H.S. and his companion and wife Magda had
always dreamt of, but had never achieved.
In fact, H.S. never set a foot in the new building nor did Magda Staudinger
within the lifetime of Elfriede Husemann. The first time Magda Staudinger came to
visit the building was only in 1978 after many soothing encounters and diplomatic
actions by G.W., who had come to Freiburg as the successor of Elfriede Husemann
in 1974.
Magda Staudinger had gained a doctorate in biology shortly before she met
H.S. for the first time. They married in 1926, the year he moved to Freiburg from
Zu ¨rich. She would become his most ardent companion and coworker in the development of macromolecular chemistry; moreover, she turned into a fierce and powerful
defender of the achievements of H.S. whenever the priority of his ideas and work was
challenged or even slightly questioned. Magda Staudinger – a person of the highest
intellectual caliber – made quite an impression. She was, and acted like, a true lady.
Her clear, melodious, and sometimes soothing voice, which easily filled a large lecture
hall without technical assistance, fitted her figure of a Wagnerian opera singer. She
must have been a beauty as a girl and was quite handsome even in her later years.
Educated in pre-World War I Russia (she came from a well-to-do Baltic baltendeutsch
family), she spoke several languages fluently, among them Russian, German, English,
and French. She also played the violin and the piano with great skill. Her father had
once been the ambassador of Latvia to post-World War I Germany, which she would
mention whenever there was a fitting occasion.
Magda Staudinger played a distinctive role in her husband’s scientific activities
both as coworker and ardent supporter of his ideas and visions. After his death in
1963, she became a distinguished and influential member of the Editorial Board of
Makromolekulare Chemie, the journal that was founded by H.S. in 1946 as the first
worldwide journal specializing in macromolecular chemistry.
Magda Staudinger had other interests as well. She was a leading member of an
influential circle pushing for more recognition of female scientists in academia. As a
patriot in the best of all senses, she became a member of the German delegation to
UNESCO and soon rose to a leading figure in the UNESCO subcommittee “Man and
his Environment,” a duty that she carried out most successfully and with international
recognition over many years in the 1970s.
42
G. Wegner
H.S. upon his final retirement in 1956.
Elfriede Husemann was not only an outstanding scientist but was also exceptionally skilled in the wheelings and dealings of academic affairs, both locally and
on the level of the state administration. She succeeded in reintegrating the
Forschungsinstitut into the University as the Institut fu ¨r Makromolekulare Chemie
(Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry) with its own identity; moreover, she
gained a second chaired professorship on the physical chemistry of macromolecules
for this Institute. This chair was first given to H.-J. C. in 1965. Her most impressive
achievement, however, was to gain support and financial means to create a brandnew laboratory building for the Institute, which was eventually finished in 1962.
These were all achievements that H.S. and his companion and wife Magda had
always dreamt of, but had never achieved.
In fact, H.S. never set a foot in the new building nor did Magda Staudinger
within the lifetime of Elfriede Husemann. The first time Magda Staudinger came to
visit the building was only in 1978 after many soothing encounters and diplomatic
actions by G.W., who had come to Freiburg as the successor of Elfriede Husemann
in 1974.
Magda Staudinger had gained a doctorate in biology shortly before she met
H.S. for the first time. They married in 1926, the year he moved to Freiburg from
Zu ¨rich. She would become his most ardent companion and coworker in the development of macromolecular chemistry; moreover, she turned into a fierce and powerful
defender of the achievements of H.S. whenever the priority of his ideas and work was
challenged or even slightly questioned. Magda Staudinger – a person of the highest
intellectual caliber – made quite an impression. She was, and acted like, a true lady.
Her clear, melodious, and sometimes soothing voice, which easily filled a large lecture
hall without technical assistance, fitted her figure of a Wagnerian opera singer. She
must have been a beauty as a girl and was quite handsome even in her later years.
Educated in pre-World War I Russia (she came from a well-to-do Baltic baltendeutsch
family), she spoke several languages fluently, among them Russian, German, English,
and French. She also played the violin and the piano with great skill. Her father had
once been the ambassador of Latvia to post-World War I Germany, which she would
mention whenever there was a fitting occasion.
Magda Staudinger played a distinctive role in her husband’s scientific activities
both as coworker and ardent supporter of his ideas and visions. After his death in
1963, she became a distinguished and influential member of the Editorial Board of
Makromolekulare Chemie, the journal that was founded by H.S. in 1946 as the first
worldwide journal specializing in macromolecular chemistry.
Magda Staudinger had other interests as well. She was a leading member of an
influential circle pushing for more recognition of female scientists in academia. As a
patriot in the best of all senses, she became a member of the German delegation to
UNESCO and soon rose to a leading figure in the UNESCO subcommittee “Man and
his Environment,” a duty that she carried out most successfully and with international
recognition over many years in the 1970s.
42
G. Wegner