Staudinger was born March 23, 1881, in Worms, Germany. Staudinger graduated from the Gymnasium at Worms in 1899 (a German gymnasium is roughly the equivalent of an American prep school) and began his university studies at Halle. His family encouraged him to study chemistry to provide a strong background for his biological investigations, and he not only took their advice, but actually stayed in chemistry for most of the rest of his career. In 1903 he finished his doctoral work at Halle under the direction of Professor Vorlander. Although Staudinger had begun his studies in the analytical subdivision of chemistry, Vorlander's influence and ideas caused him to develop an intense interest in theoretical organic chemistry. His doctoral thesis was on the malonic esters of unsaturated compounds.

Initially, Staudinger's organic chemical investigations were relatively routine, although they resulted in the synthesis of some interesting new classes of organic molecules. In 1905, while in his...