History of Polymers

History of Polymers

Polymers were discovered long before anyone understood what they were. It wasn’t until 1920 that German chemist Hermann Staudinger (1881–1965) made his macromolecular hypothesis, suggesting that polymers are actually giant molecules formed by the permanent attachment of countless smaller molecules. Through careful experiments, he proved his hypothesis to be correct and was rewarded with the 1953 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.