Adv Polym Sci (2013) 261: 81–138
DOI: 10.1007/12_2013_249
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Published online: 28 November 2013
Courageous Questioning of Established
Thinking: The Life and Work of Hermann
Staudinger
Markus Weber and Guido Deussing
Abstract Hermann Staudinger (23.3.1881–8.9.1965) gave plastics chemistry its
theoretical foundations. Although his outstanding career as a scientist – doctorate at
22, professorship at 26 – culminated in the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Staudinger
has remained largely unknown (as a public figure too) and nowadays only specialists are familiar with his life and work. In 1920, Hermann Staudinger published his
“Macromolecular manifesto”, which gave plastics chemistry its foundations but
was rejected resoundingly by the organic chemistry establishment. The opposition
that Staudinger faced as a result threatened to isolate him, but he defended his
theory stubbornly and continued his attempts to prove experimentally the existence
of the “giant molecules” he had postulated in theory.
Hermann Staudinger started a new phase of his life in the 1930s: his theory about
the macromolecular structure of polymers, which was hotly contested in the initial
stages, finally received the recognition it deserved. While the opposition he faced
from the scientific community decreased, new storm clouds developed in 1933, when
the Nazis assumed power. Staudinger’s life’s work culminated in the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry, which he received from the Swedish King on 10 December 1953. This
was late recognition for a 72-year-old retired professor, who no longer represented
the avant-garde of his subject but whose achievements are still being acknowledged.
This article aims to rectify this. It portrays Staudinger as a productive and unorthodox
thinker, who refused to accept conventional arguments in both his scientific and
political activities – until his ideas finally became mainstream convictions.
Keywords Hermann Staudinger Á Macromolecular manifesto Á Macromolecules Á
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1953 Á Plastics chemistry Á Polymer research
M. Weber (*)
Thumbstrasse 30B, 51103 Cologne, Germany
e-mail: mediweb@arcor.de
G. Deussing
Uhlandstrasse 16, 41464 Neuss, Germany
DOI: 10.1007/12_2013_249
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Published online: 28 November 2013
Courageous Questioning of Established
Thinking: The Life and Work of Hermann
Staudinger
Markus Weber and Guido Deussing
Abstract Hermann Staudinger (23.3.1881–8.9.1965) gave plastics chemistry its
theoretical foundations. Although his outstanding career as a scientist – doctorate at
22, professorship at 26 – culminated in the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Staudinger
has remained largely unknown (as a public figure too) and nowadays only specialists are familiar with his life and work. In 1920, Hermann Staudinger published his
“Macromolecular manifesto”, which gave plastics chemistry its foundations but
was rejected resoundingly by the organic chemistry establishment. The opposition
that Staudinger faced as a result threatened to isolate him, but he defended his
theory stubbornly and continued his attempts to prove experimentally the existence
of the “giant molecules” he had postulated in theory.
Hermann Staudinger started a new phase of his life in the 1930s: his theory about
the macromolecular structure of polymers, which was hotly contested in the initial
stages, finally received the recognition it deserved. While the opposition he faced
from the scientific community decreased, new storm clouds developed in 1933, when
the Nazis assumed power. Staudinger’s life’s work culminated in the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry, which he received from the Swedish King on 10 December 1953. This
was late recognition for a 72-year-old retired professor, who no longer represented
the avant-garde of his subject but whose achievements are still being acknowledged.
This article aims to rectify this. It portrays Staudinger as a productive and unorthodox
thinker, who refused to accept conventional arguments in both his scientific and
political activities – until his ideas finally became mainstream convictions.
Keywords Hermann Staudinger Á Macromolecular manifesto Á Macromolecules Á
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1953 Á Plastics chemistry Á Polymer research
M. Weber (*)
Thumbstrasse 30B, 51103 Cologne, Germany
e-mail: mediweb@arcor.de
G. Deussing
Uhlandstrasse 16, 41464 Neuss, Germany