Vladimir Prelog, the son of Milan Prelog, a Croatian high school teacher, and his wife Mara (née Cettolo), was born on July 23, 1906 in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He served as a "flower boy" at the ill-fated visit of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, and his wife, whose assassination on July 28, 1914 initiated World War I.

Prelog's parents separated in 1915, and Prelog went to live with his paternal aunt and grandmother in Zagreb, where he spent his first three years in high school (Realgymnasium). At the age of 12 he began to experiment in his home chemistry laboratory. In 1918, Prelog joined his father in Osijek, where he attended a science-based high school. Encouraged in his love of chemistry by his chemistry teacher, he wrote his first article at age 15.

In 1921, Prelog moved to Zagreb, where he graduated from high school in 1924. He then entered the...