Hermann Staudinger
Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
Inducted 2008
Dr. Hermann Staudinger (1881 – 1965) was a world-renowned German chemist who won the 1953 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for demonstrating that polymers are long-chain molecules. His work laid the foundation for the great expansion of the global plastics industry in the 20th century and beyond.
Staudinger studied chemistry at the Universities of Darmstadt and Munich, and he received a Ph.D. from the University of Halle in 1903. He held academic positions at the Universities of Strasbourg and Karlsruhe before joining the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology faculty in Zurich in 1912.
He left the Swiss Federal Institute in 1926 to become the professor of organic chemistry and director of the chemistry laboratory at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg. In 1940, an Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry was established under his directorship. He held this position until he retired in 1951.
Before working with polymers, Staudinger and his research group made many significant discoveries while researching reactive organic compounds. His work on polymers began with research he conducted for the German chemical giant BASF on the synthesis of isoprene in 1910, the monomer of which natural rubber is composed. The prevalent belief at the time was that rubber and other polymers are composed of small molecules held together by “secondary valences” or other electrostatic forces.
In 1922, Staudinger proposed that polymers are giant molecules (macromolecules) held together by normal covalent bonds. This concept was met with resistance from many of his peers and authorities. Throughout the 1920s, the research of Staudinger and others showed that small molecules react to form long, chainlike structures (polymers) by chemical interaction and not simply by physical aggregation. Staudinger showed that various processes could synthesize such linear molecules and maintain their identity even when subject to chemical modification.
Staudinger always maintained a close relationship with the industry.
His research was published in more than 800 publications and more than 10,000 printed pages. Dr. Hermann Staudinger, the “Father of Modern Polymer Chemistry,” set the standard for plastics innovation throughout his career. In that sense, all-polymer chemists and plastics engineers are said to be his technological heirs.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic materials, Education