Lithium Polymerization Catalysts. Charles Goodyear Medal Address—1972

The growth of the Lithium Polymerization Catalysts system has been an interesting and intriguing study. Abraham Lincoln, in one of his addresses, indicated that no one would long remember what was said or done there on that occasion. Thus unwittingly, he may have forecast the insignificance of this paper in its effect on the scientific world. It is presumed that none of you here, unless he may have been a Charles Goodyear medalist, can recall many of the important statements or thoughts expressed on this occasion by prior Charles Goodyear Medalists. Therefore, you need not recall anything that is said here today. When one starts a research project, the first thing that is done is to review the literature to find out what has already been done in that field. Thus, we find that in 1826, Faraday published his first analysis of rubber latex. He found that it contained water, rubber, vegetable matter rich in nitrogen and extractable material. He also established that rubber contained the elements of Carbon and Hydrogen. His was the first significant publication about rubber since that of de la Condamine in 1751 to the Academie of Science in Paris. There were several other publications prior to the end of that century, but they did not seem too significant from a scientific standpoint. A German scientist, Frederich Karl Himly, had been studying in Göttingen for a year and a half, about rubber and its destructive distillation products, and he discussed his findings in his Doctors dissertation in 1835. Himly's thesis was published in a small paper back booklet but it did not get wide distribution, possibly due to the fact that it was written in Latin, as was often the case in those days. A copy of this publication was found in the Research Library of The Firestone Tire & Eubber Company about 1922. Imprinted on the cover was the name of M. J. Sehleiden and written on the outside, the name of M. Prinzhom. Also there was the name of C. C. Goodrich, and H. W. Kugler, who later became the Chief Chemist of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company.