Consequences and Development of an Invention

The awarding of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, for the year 1963, is related to the precipitous expansion of macromolecular chemistry and its industrial applications, which began precisely ten years ago at my Max-Planck-Institute for Coal Research, in Mülheim/Ruhr. The suddenness with which this began, and the rapidity with which it was propagated are comparable to an explosion. The energy sources in this case were the ingenuity, activity, creative imagination and bold concepts of the many unnamed chemists, designers and entrepreneurs in the world who have fashioned great industries from our humble beginnings. If today I stand with my colleague Natta, who has been particularly effective in promoting this explosive wave, in the limelight of distinction, and do wish to manifest, with this address, my appreciation for the honor bestowed upon me, I must begin by thanking these many anonymous persons. They, too, deserve this distinction. The extent of this “explosion” may be illustrated by two charts, in which the location of newly-established plants is indicated. The places marked by black circles refer to new production facilities which, though concerned with low molecular weight materials, nevertheless also have some connection with the address I am delivering today (Figures 1 and 2). The new development had its inception near the end of 1953, when I, together with Holzkamp, Breil and Martin observed, for several days, an almost dramatic occurrence: that ethylene gas will polymerize very rapidly with certain catalysts that are extremely easy to prepare, at 100, 20 and 5 atmospheres and, finally, even at normal pressure, to a high molecular weight plastic.