During his time in Karlsruhe until 1914, Staudinger published in total about 40
papers of which approximately 30 were related to ketenes. Most of these publications were authored by Staudinger alone, or co-authored with typically only one or
two co-authors. In total, 16 different co-authors can be found among these papers.
Since a Ph.D. took about 2 years to complete at that time, we can estimate that his
group might have consisted of around five to eight Ph.D. students.
As already mentioned, one of these students was Ludwig Carl Lautenschla ¨ger,
who conducted work for his Ph.D. from 1911 to 1913 in Karlsruhe. This work was
supervised by Engler, but was in very close collaboration with Staudinger and was
on the topic of “Auto-oxydation und Polymerisation ungesa ¨ttigter Kohlenwasserstoffe” (Auto-oxidation and polymerization of unsaturated hydrocarbons). In
this Ph.D. thesis on p.24 and p.26, the influence of the oxygen content on the
polymerization kinetics of different monomers was investigated, e.g., isoprene and
styrene (up to 90% conversion in 4 h). In these early days, the polymerization
product of styrene was called metastyrene because it came after styrene (in Greek,
“meta” means “after”). Lautenschla ¨ger even tried to polymerize α-methylstyrene,
but with very little success. Years later, it was found that the ceiling temperature of
poly(α-methylstyrene) is extremely low. Two people were acknowledged at the end
of this thesis: C. Engler and H. Staudinger. The relationship with Lautenschla ¨ger
became important again in 1933 (see the next section).
One of the monomers used to make synthetic rubber was also introduced in
Karlsruhe and started a whole series of 53 publications [6]: “U ¨ ber die Darstellung
von Isopren aus Terpenkohlenstoffen” (On the synthesis of isoprenes from
terpenoide hydrocarbons) [10]. In this work, 1,4-polyisoprene is simply an eightmember ring built of two monomers.
In 1912, Staudinger received a call to go to ETH-Zurich in Switzerland as
successor of Richard Willsta ¨dter, and Haber sent him a humorous “condolence”
letter remarking that the times of simply working would soon be over. On 12 July
1912, the students of Staudinger presented him with a “good-bye” brochure, which
was named after the political satire magazine Simplicissimus, to lighten his leaving
[11]. In Fig. 2, page 9 of this brochure is reprinted and shows the dance of butadiene
molecules to finally form synthetic rubber.
2 Staudinger and Karlsruhe, 1920 to 1945
In 1931, Lautenschla ¨ger and Staudinger finally published together parts of
Lautenschla ¨ger’s Ph.D. thesis [12]. This was 18 years after the oral examination!
Nevertheless, the reconnection with his former Ph.D. student from Karlsruhe
became important for Staudinger for a totally different reason. In August 1933,
Staudinger asked Lautenschla ¨ger to write a letter of reference for him personally
and for his work [13]. Times had changed and from April 1933 until April 1934 the
philosopher Martin Heidegger was the first rector of the University of Freiburg after
Hitler came into power. Heidegger put Staudinger under substantial pressure to
56
M. Wilhelm
papers of which approximately 30 were related to ketenes. Most of these publications were authored by Staudinger alone, or co-authored with typically only one or
two co-authors. In total, 16 different co-authors can be found among these papers.
Since a Ph.D. took about 2 years to complete at that time, we can estimate that his
group might have consisted of around five to eight Ph.D. students.
As already mentioned, one of these students was Ludwig Carl Lautenschla ¨ger,
who conducted work for his Ph.D. from 1911 to 1913 in Karlsruhe. This work was
supervised by Engler, but was in very close collaboration with Staudinger and was
on the topic of “Auto-oxydation und Polymerisation ungesa ¨ttigter Kohlenwasserstoffe” (Auto-oxidation and polymerization of unsaturated hydrocarbons). In
this Ph.D. thesis on p.24 and p.26, the influence of the oxygen content on the
polymerization kinetics of different monomers was investigated, e.g., isoprene and
styrene (up to 90% conversion in 4 h). In these early days, the polymerization
product of styrene was called metastyrene because it came after styrene (in Greek,
“meta” means “after”). Lautenschla ¨ger even tried to polymerize α-methylstyrene,
but with very little success. Years later, it was found that the ceiling temperature of
poly(α-methylstyrene) is extremely low. Two people were acknowledged at the end
of this thesis: C. Engler and H. Staudinger. The relationship with Lautenschla ¨ger
became important again in 1933 (see the next section).
One of the monomers used to make synthetic rubber was also introduced in
Karlsruhe and started a whole series of 53 publications [6]: “U ¨ ber die Darstellung
von Isopren aus Terpenkohlenstoffen” (On the synthesis of isoprenes from
terpenoide hydrocarbons) [10]. In this work, 1,4-polyisoprene is simply an eightmember ring built of two monomers.
In 1912, Staudinger received a call to go to ETH-Zurich in Switzerland as
successor of Richard Willsta ¨dter, and Haber sent him a humorous “condolence”
letter remarking that the times of simply working would soon be over. On 12 July
1912, the students of Staudinger presented him with a “good-bye” brochure, which
was named after the political satire magazine Simplicissimus, to lighten his leaving
[11]. In Fig. 2, page 9 of this brochure is reprinted and shows the dance of butadiene
molecules to finally form synthetic rubber.
2 Staudinger and Karlsruhe, 1920 to 1945
In 1931, Lautenschla ¨ger and Staudinger finally published together parts of
Lautenschla ¨ger’s Ph.D. thesis [12]. This was 18 years after the oral examination!
Nevertheless, the reconnection with his former Ph.D. student from Karlsruhe
became important for Staudinger for a totally different reason. In August 1933,
Staudinger asked Lautenschla ¨ger to write a letter of reference for him personally
and for his work [13]. Times had changed and from April 1933 until April 1934 the
philosopher Martin Heidegger was the first rector of the University of Freiburg after
Hitler came into power. Heidegger put Staudinger under substantial pressure to
56
M. Wilhelm