Giulio Natta was a highly regarded Italian chemist who, during an active career spanning almost fifty years, worked closely with the Italian chemical industry to create many new processes and products. His studies of high polymers and his discovery of the hard plastic substance polypropylene ushered in the age of plastics with immense world-wide impact. For his work in this field he shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in chemistry with the German chemist Karl Ziegler.

Natta was born on February 26, 1903, in Imperia, Italy, a resort town located about sixty miles southwest of Genoa on the Ligurian Sea. His parents were Francesco Natta, a lawyer and judge, and Elena Crespi Natta. He received his primary and secondary education in Genoa. Having read his first chemistry book at age twelve, he quickly became fascinated by the topic. At age sixteen, Natta graduated from high school and entered the University of Genoa...