We all associate chemistry with test tubes, stinking laboratories and explosions - Alfred Nobel's dynamite was born in such an environment. Perhaps the development of new knowledge in chemistry, more than any other science, has been characterized as a sparkling interplay between theory on one hand, the safe and predictable, and, on the other hand, the explosive and surprising reality. This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry is being awarded to three scientists, whose unexpected discovery gave birth to a research area of great importance. But let us go back to the beginning.
Polymerization is the process by which many small molecules react to form a long chain - a polymer.
The result was a surprise also to the scientists. Instead of the expected black polyacetylene powder that normally was obtained, and that was of no use, a beautifully lustrous silver colored film resulted. It was, however, only its appearance that was metallic. The material did not conduct electricity. The breakthrough was not made until ten years later in collaboration between physicist Alan Heeger and chemists Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa, continuing the experiments with the silver colored film.