fascism. Dora married again and became a leading peace activist. Legacy Staudinger's groundbreaking elucidation of the nature of the high-molecular weight compounds he termed Makromoleküle paved the way for the birth of the field of polymer chemistry. Staudinger himself saw the potential for this science long before it was fully realized. "It is not improbable," Staudinger commented in 1936, "that sooner or later a way will be discovered to prepare artificial fibers from synthetic high-molecular products, because the strength and elasticity of natural fibers depend exclusively on their macro-molecular structure – i.e., on their long thread-shaped molecules." Staudinger founded the first polymer chemistry journal in 1940, and in 1953 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry." In 1999, the American Chemical Society and Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker designated Staudinger's work as an International Historic Chemical Landmark. His pioneering research has afforded the world myriad plastics, textiles, and other polymeric materials which make consumer products more affordable, attractive and enjoyable, while helping engineers develop lighter and more durable structures. See also Beta-lactam Carbene Hypervalent molecule Polyoxymethylene Pyrethrin Triphenylphosphine phenylimide Heidegger and Nazism: denounced or demoted non-Nazis Notes References External links Staudinger's Nobel Lecture Macromolecular Chemistry 1881 births 1965 deaths Academic staff of ETH Zurich 20th-century German chemists Organic chemists German Nobel laureates Nobel laureates in Chemistry Polymer scientists and engineers People from Worms, Germany People from Rhenish Hesse Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg Academic staff of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Academic staff of the University of Freiburg Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni Swiss Nobel laureates