Ziegler, Karl

Ziegler, Karl

(tsē`glər), 1898–1973, German chemist. Educated at the Univ. of Marburg, he taught at Heidelberg and Halle and for a short period at the Univ. of Chicago. He became director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research at Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1944. He shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Giulio NattaNatta, Giulio,
1903–79, Italian chemist, Ph.D. the Polytechnic of Milan, 1924. Natta held brief appointments at several academic institutions, including the Univ. of Pavia (1933–35), the Univ.
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 for developing a system to control polymerizing, or uniting, of simple hydrocarbons into large molecule substances. This had important commercial use in the development of plastics, particularly the polymerization of propene (see polypropylenepolypropylene
, plastic noted for its light weight, being less dense than water; it is a polymer of propylene. It resists moisture, oils, and solvents. Since its melting point is 121&degC; (250&degF;), it is used in the manufacture of objects that are sterilized in the course of
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).