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Hermann Staudinger
(23 Mar 1881 - 8 Sep 1965)
German chemist who received the 1953 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his discovery of the structure of polymers as long-chain molecules.
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Science Quotes by Hermann Staudinger (1 quote)
The most fundamental difference between compounds of low molecular weight and macromolecular compounds resides in the fact that the latter may exhibit properties that cannot be deduced from a close examination of the low molecular weight materials. Not very different structures can be obtained from a few building blocks; but if 10,000 or 100,000 blocks are at hand, the most varied structures become possible, such as houses or halls, whose special structure cannot be predicted from the constructions that are possible with only a few building blocks... Thus, a chromosome can be viewed as a material whose macromolecules possess a well defined arrangement, like a living room in which each piece of furniture has its place and not, as in a warehouse, where the pieces of furniture are placed together in a heap without design.
— Hermann Staudinger
Quoted, without citation, in Ralph E. Oesper (ed.), The Human Side of Scientists (1975), 175.
See also:
- 23 Mar - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Staudinger's birth.
- From Organic Chemistry to Macromolecules (autobiography), by Hermann Staudinger. - book suggestion.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
