Polymer science

In the 1840s, Friedrich Ludersdorf and Nathaniel Hayward independently discovered that adding sulfur to raw natural rubber (polyisoprene) helped prevent the material from becoming sticky.

In 1884 Hilaire de Chardonnet started the first artificial fiber plant based on regenerated cellulose, or viscose rayon, as a substitute for silk, but it was very flammable.

Graham proposed that cellulose and other polymers were colloids, aggregates of molecules having small molecular mass connected by an unknown intermolecular force.

Hermann Staudinger was the first to propose that polymers consisted of long chains of atoms held together by covalent bonds.

The World War II era marked the emergence of a strong commercial polymer industry.

Fred W. Billmeyer, Jr., a Professor of Analytical Chemistry had once said that "although the scarcity of education in polymer science is slowly diminishing but it is still evident in many areas.

[9] 2002 (Chemistry) John Bennett Fenn, Koichi Tanaka, and Kurt Wüthrich for the development of methods for identification and structure analyses of biological macromolecules.