Hermann Staudinger – Organic chemist and pioneer of macromolecules.

To commemorate the centenary of the birth of modern polymer science, a review of the life and accomplishments of Hermann Staudinger is given within the framework of the first half of the twentieth century. Staudinger is remembered for his discovery of ketenes and the Staudinger reaction, but his greatest contribution to chemistry was in developing the concept of macromolecules, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1953. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]