14 Facts About Hermann Staudinger

Hermann Staudinger was a German organic chemist who demonstrated the existence of macromolecules, which he characterized as polymers.

Hermann Staudinger is known for his discovery of ketenes and of the Staudinger reaction.

Hermann Staudinger received his "Verbandsexamen" from TH Darmstadt.

Hermann Staudinger was supported in his work by new his wife Dora Staudinger who wrote up his lectures.

In 1907, Hermann Staudinger began an assistant professorship at the Technical University of Karlsruhe.

In 1912, Hermann Staudinger took on a new position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.

Fritz Haber attacked him for his essay, accusing him of harming Germany, and Hermann Staudinger in turn criticized Haber for his role in the German chemical weapons program.

Contrary to prevailing ideas, Hermann Staudinger proposed in a landmark paper published in 1920 that rubber and other polymers such as starch, cellulose and proteins are long chains of short repeating molecular units linked by covalent bonds.

At first, the majority of Hermann Staudinger's colleagues refused to accept the possibility that small molecules could link together covalently to form high-molecular weight compounds.

Hermann Staudinger's theory opened up the subject to further development, and helped place polymer science on a sound basis.

Hermann Staudinger married in 1906 to Dora Forster and they remained together until their divorce in 1926.

Hermann Staudinger's groundbreaking elucidation of the nature of the high-molecular weight compounds he termed Makromolekule paved the way for the birth of the field of polymer chemistry.

Hermann Staudinger himself saw the potential for this science long before it was fully realized.

Hermann Staudinger's pioneering research has afforded the world myriad plastics, textiles, and other polymeric materials which make consumer products more affordable, attractive and enjoyable, while helping engineers develop lighter and more durable structures.