The Falling Out

Abstract

The joint research and development agreement made in 1953 between Ziegler, Natta and Montecatini had set the stage on which polyproylene made its debut. The continued attack by the merged forces of the two laboratories could have given the world a model of fruitful international cooperation that would impress scientists and politicians alike and shower benefits on industry and mankind. The unlikely pairing of a German ‘coal research’ and an Italian chemical research institute, backed by their respective sponsors, made it possible to move rapidly in whatever direction Ziegler’s discoveries might take them-jointly opening new paths in science, with new technology pouring through those openings to fill gaps in human knowledge and supply human wants.