Herman Francis Mark, The Father of Polymer Science, was born in Vienna on May 3, 1895. Although his schooling was interrupted by World War I, in which he served on the front lines as well as spending a year as a prisoner of war, he managed to complete his doctoral dissertation on the synthesis and characterization of the pentaphenyl ethyl free radical. His doctoral advisor, Wilhelm Schlenk, subsequently offered Mark a position at the University of Berlin in 1921.

Mark's position at the university had barely begun when he was offered a job at the Institute for Fiber Research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Here he worked on projects including x-ray crystallographic, refraction, and polarization studies. In 1926 he took a position at I.G. Farbenindustrie to study the production of synthetic fibers. At the start of World War II, he sought employment outside of Germany, becoming a professor of chemistry at the University of Vienna in 1932. There he designed a curriculum in polymer chemistry.

With the Nazi threat looming, Mark and his family prepared to escape Europe by covertly buying bits of platinum wire and twisting it into coat hangers in order to accumulate money for travel and a new life. By the time the Mark family escaped to Canada, they had amassed $50,000 in platinum wire.

Herman Mark joined the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (PIB) as an adjunct professor in 1940. Mark's position at PIB, as well as his relationships with DuPont and the wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development, led to further developments in polymer research. In 1947, the Institute of Polymer Research was founded at PIB; the first graduate program of its kind in America. Mark continued his relationship with PIB for over 50 years. He died in 1992.

The discipline of polymer science that Mark helped to establish is now a vital branch of chemistry. Polymers, macromolecules formed synthetically by uniting monomers, have high viscosity, elasticity, and strength. The first synthetic fiber, nylon, was a result of Mark's work in polymers. Today many scientific companies conduct polymer research.

Sources:

"Herman Francis Mark" nap.edu. The National Academies Press Biographical Memoirs. n.d. Web. 29 Aug. 2012.

Rodengen, Jeffrey L, and Mickey Murphy. Changing the World: Polytechnic University - - the First 150 Years. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Write Stuff Enterprises, Inc, 2005. Print.