Nomen est Omen

Hermann Staudinger’s memory is kept alive not least of all by the various uses to which his name has been put. Although they enhance scientific vocabulary in particular, one comes across them in day-to-day life as well, because schools and roads are among the things that have been named after Staudinger. Here is a short list:

● Staudinger reaction
● Staudinger synthesis
● Staudinger index: relationship between the viscosity and the molecular mass of dissolved polymers
● Hermann Staudinger Prize: endowed by BASF AG at the Society of German Chemists (GDCh) and awarded for the first time in 1971
● Roads named after Hermann Staudinger – with and without his first name – can be found in Baden-Württemberg (Emmendingen, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Münsingen, Waldshut-Tiengen), Bavaria (Aschheim, Helmbrechts, Munich, Rehau, Trostberg, Viechtach), Hamburg, Hesse (Bürstadt, Darmstadt, Rodgau, Viernheim), Lower Saxony (Braunschweig, Lage/Lippe), North Rhine-Westphalia (Gütersloh, Velen) and Schleswig-Holstein (Norderstedt).
● Schools: Staudinger Primary School and Carmelite/Staudinger-Realschule plus (former Staudinger-Hauptschule) in Worms, where Hermann Staudinger was born on 23. March 1881; Hermann-Staudinger-Realschule in Konz/Rhineland-Palatinate; Staudinger Comprehensive School in Freiburg im Breisgau; Hermann Staudinger Grammar School in Erlenbach/Bavaria; Hermann Staudinger Graduate School at Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg im Breisgau
● Staudinger cactus: Echinopsis x Trichocereus Multihybride Hermann Staudinger with large flowers, hybrid BS.1491/2006 (breeder: Ingo Bartels, Burgdorf; see http://ebay.de/itm/Kakteen-Kaktus-Echinopsis-Trichocereus-HERMANN-STAUDINGER-BS-1491-2006-/130767778994)
● Hermann-Staudinger-Haus in Freiburg im Breisgau: it was established in 1962 and houses the Freiburg University Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry. The American Chemical Society and the Society of German Chemists unveiled a plaque in honour of Hermann Staudinger here on 19. April 1999. This plaque says:
“HISTORIC INTERNATIONAL MILESTONE IN CHEMISTRY – ORIGIN OF POLYMER SCIENCES. Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, 1926-1956: this building has been named after Hermann Staudinger, who carried out his pioneering research about macromolecules in Freiburg from 1926 to 1956. His theories about the polymer structure of fibres and plastics as well as his later studies of biological macromolecules formed the basis for countless modern developments in the materials and biosciences and for the rapid growth of the plastics industry. Staudinger received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1953 for his work in the polymers field.”