Paul Flory and the Dawn of Polymers as a Science

Abstract

If Wallace Carothers was the designer, Flory was the architectand builder of the edifice of polymer science. If Carotherswas the composer, Flory was the man who wrote the notes forthe music. Carothers and Flory represent the quintessentialqualities that are needed to make great science – intuition andrationality, experiment and theory, flights of imagination anddiligent reduction to practice, exuberance and rigour.