From synthetic macromolecules to biological-like complex systems

Abstract

"His Majesty the Hirohito Emperor of Japan asks: Professor Staudinger, is this a concept that came into your mind to explain various phenomenological behaviors of a group of compounds or did you really prove their existence by rigorous scientific means? The highly impressed Professor Staudinger answers: It is this experimental demonstration of the existence of macromolecules which forms the essential part of my work in the field of Macromolecular Science." From the discussion between the Emperor of Japan and Professor Staudinger on 17th of April 1957 at the Imperial Palace of Japan. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.