A short History of Polymer Science

Outline

1. Polymers: Molecular Giants
2. Aggregate theory of high polymers
3. Alterning nature's polymers: Early work on cellulose, plastics and rubbers
4. Hermann Staudinger: Do long covalently bound polymers exist?
5. Synthetic rubbers and World War II
6. Commercial giants
   1. Ziegler-Natta catalysts
   2. Molding
   3. Extrusion
   4. Ten percent of municipal garbage
7. Giant molecules and statistical physics: On universal properties of polymers
8. DNA and beyond: Macromolecules in life sciences
9. Challenges: Tomorrow's Giants
   1. Composite Material
   2. Conductive Polymers
   3. Biopolymers
   4. New research and production lines
   5. Bridging the length scales: Computational investigaton of polymers
10. Further reading