The first modern example of polymer science is
Henri Braconnot's work in the 1830s. Henri, along with
Christian Schönbein and others, developed derivatives of the natural polymer
cellulose, producing new, semi-synthetic materials, such as
celluloid and
cellulose acetate. The term "polymer" was coined in 1833 by
Jöns Jakob Berzelius, though Berzelius did little that would be considered polymer science in the modern sense. 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 1844
Charles Goodyear received a U.S. patent for
vulcanizing natural rubber with
sulfur and heat.
Thomas Hancock had received a patent for the same process in the UK the year before. This process strengthened natural rubber and prevented it from melting with heat without losing flexibility. This made practical products such as waterproofed articles possible. It also facilitated practical manufacture of such rubberized materials. Vulcanized rubber represents the first commercially successful product of polymer research. 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. In 1907
Leo Baekeland invented the first
synthetic plastic, a
thermosetting
phenol–
formaldehyde resin called
Bakelite. Despite significant advances in polymer synthesis, the molecular nature of polymers was not understood until the work of
Hermann Staudinger in 1922. Prior to Staudinger's work, polymers were understood in terms of the
association theory or aggregate theory, which originated with
Thomas Graham in 1861. 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. It took over a decade for Staudinger's work to gain wide acceptance in the scientific community, work for which he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in 1953. The World War II era marked the emergence of a strong commercial polymer industry. The limited or restricted supply of natural materials such as
silk and
rubber necessitated the increased production of synthetic substitutes, such as
nylon and
synthetic rubber. In the intervening years, the development of advanced polymers such as
Kevlar and
Teflon have continued to fuel a strong and growing polymer industry. The growth in industrial applications was mirrored by the establishment of strong academic programs and research institutes. In 1946,
Herman Mark established the Polymer Research Institute at
Brooklyn Polytechnic, the first research facility in the United States dedicated to polymer research. Mark is also recognized as a pioneer in establishing curriculum and pedagogy for the field of polymer science. In 1950, the POLY division of the
American Chemical Society was formed, and has since grown to the second-largest division in this association with nearly 8,000 members. 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. What is most unfortunate is that it appears to exist, not because of a lack of awareness but, rather, a lack of interest." ==Nobel prizes related to polymer science==