The Polymer Revolution

How were the polymers which have transformed our world created? How has our understanding of polymers changed since the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius coined the word ‘polymer’ in 1832? Who were the people who wrought the polymer revolution? This book answers these questions by presenting a compelling narrative that weaves together the history of polymer science, the development of new plastics and rubbers and biographies of the leading actors in this revolution.

A key feature of the polymer revolution was the involvement of industry. The author shows how industry supported research in factories and universities and how academic research assisted the development of new polymers. As a result, empirical trial and error, which laid the foundations of a new industry, was replaced by systematic scientific research based on our improved understanding of the structure and behaviour of polymers. Containing an unparalleled collection of short biographies of over eighty people including both famous scientists such as Thomas Graham, Hermann Staudinger and Stephanie Kwolek and obscure figures like William Caspari, Hans Fikentscher, Ray McIntire and Wilfred Swinney, this history lists the part of human endeavour in the polymer revolution.

This book is aimed at anyone who wishes to find out more about the history of this economically important interdisciplinary subject, which straddles chemistry, biology, physics and engineering. With illuminating and entertaining prose, the reader will discover a fascinating story of the development of polymer science and technology. Written in an accessible style, it appeals to school pupils studying chemistry and university students, historians of science, technology and the economy as well as polymer scientists.

Peter J. T. Morris is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Science Museum, London and University College London. He was formerly Keeper of Research Projects at the Science Museum, in charge of extensive chemistry collections. He was given the Edelstein Award by the American Chemical Society in 2006 and the Wheeler Award by the RSC Historical Group in 2013. Peter has studied the history of polymers for forty-five years, beginning with his doctoral thesis on the development of synthetic rubber by I. G. Farben (1982) and followed by Polymer Pioneers (1986), the forerunner of the current volume. He has also published The American Synthetic Research Program (1989), The Matter Factory: A History of the Chemistry Laboratory (2015) and most recently, with Peter Reed, Henry Enfield Roscoe (2024).