Adv Polym Sci (2013) 261: 53–60
DOI: 10.1007/12_2013_265
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Published online: 6 November 2013
Staudinger’s Time in Karlsruhe and His
Later Relations with Karlsruhe
Manfred Wilhelm
Keywords Staudinger Á Karlsruhe
Contents
1 Staudinger and Karlsruhe up to 1920 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2 Staudinger and Karlsruhe, 1920 to 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3 Staudinger’s Letters to Karlsruhe after 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
1 Staudinger and Karlsruhe up to 1920
As a first remark, it should be noted that large portions of the archives of Karlsruhe
University were lost during World War II (WWII) so that official documents about,
e.g., the hiring process and the departure of Staudinger do not exist any longer
(K. Nippert, July 2013, personal communication).
Hermann Staudinger finished his high school degree in 1899 at the age of 18 in
Worms, the same city in which he was born in 1881. Worms is about 90 km from
Karlsruhe. As the University of Karlsruhe has existed since 1825 and as his father had
a Ph.D. degree, the family was certainly aware of the University of Karlsruhe. In
1903, Staudinger finished his Ph.D. in chemistry (at the University of Halle) after only
4 years of study, which included (!) the work for his Ph.D. thesis. Shortly before
leaving for Karlsruhe, Staudinger married his first wife Dorothea Fo ¨rster in 1906 and
M. Wilhelm (*)
KIT, Karlsruher Institut fu ¨r Technologie, Institut fu ¨r Technische Chemie und Polymerchemie,
Engesserstrasse 18, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
e-mail: manfred.wilhelm@kit.edu
DOI: 10.1007/12_2013_265
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Published online: 6 November 2013
Staudinger’s Time in Karlsruhe and His
Later Relations with Karlsruhe
Manfred Wilhelm
Keywords Staudinger Á Karlsruhe
Contents
1 Staudinger and Karlsruhe up to 1920 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2 Staudinger and Karlsruhe, 1920 to 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3 Staudinger’s Letters to Karlsruhe after 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
1 Staudinger and Karlsruhe up to 1920
As a first remark, it should be noted that large portions of the archives of Karlsruhe
University were lost during World War II (WWII) so that official documents about,
e.g., the hiring process and the departure of Staudinger do not exist any longer
(K. Nippert, July 2013, personal communication).
Hermann Staudinger finished his high school degree in 1899 at the age of 18 in
Worms, the same city in which he was born in 1881. Worms is about 90 km from
Karlsruhe. As the University of Karlsruhe has existed since 1825 and as his father had
a Ph.D. degree, the family was certainly aware of the University of Karlsruhe. In
1903, Staudinger finished his Ph.D. in chemistry (at the University of Halle) after only
4 years of study, which included (!) the work for his Ph.D. thesis. Shortly before
leaving for Karlsruhe, Staudinger married his first wife Dorothea Fo ¨rster in 1906 and
M. Wilhelm (*)
KIT, Karlsruher Institut fu ¨r Technologie, Institut fu ¨r Technische Chemie und Polymerchemie,
Engesserstrasse 18, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
e-mail: manfred.wilhelm@kit.edu