Giulio Natta

Giulio Natta
Giulio Natta
Born	26 February 1903 Imperia, Italy
Died	2 May 1979 (aged 76) Bergamo, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Fields	Organic chemistry
Institutions	Pavia University University of Rome La Sapienza Politecnico di Torino
Alma mater	Politecnico di Milano
Known for	Ziegler-Natta catalyst
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1963) Lomonosov Gold Medal (1969)

Giulio Natta (26 February 1903 – 2 May 1979) was an Italian chemist and Nobel laureate. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 with Karl Ziegler for work on high polymers. He was also a recipient of Lomonosov Gold Medal in 1969.^[1]

Biography

Early years

Natta was born in Imperia, Italy. He earned his degree in chemical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano university in Milan in 1924. In 1927 he passed the exams for becoming a professor there. In 1933 he became a full professor and the director of the Institute of General Chemistry of Pavia University, where he stayed until 1935. In that year he was appointed full professor in physical chemistry at the University of Rome.^[1]

Career

From 1936 to 1938 he moved as a full professor and director of the Institute of Industrial Chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute of Turin. In 1938 he took over as the head of the Department of chemical engineering at the Politecnico di Milano university, in a somewhat controversial manner, when his predecessor Mario Giacomo Levi was forced to step down because of racial laws against Jews being introduced in Fascist Italy.^[1]

Natta's work at Politecnico di Milano led to the improvement of earlier work by Karl Ziegler and to the development of the Ziegler-Natta catalyst. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 with Karl Ziegler for their research in high polymers.

Personal life

Giulio Natta with wife in the 1960s

In 1935 Natta married Rosita Beati, a woman of great culture and sensitivity, who helped his career in many ways. A graduate in literature, she coined the terms "isotactic", "atactic" and "syndiotactic" for polymers discovered by her husband.^[2] They had two sons, Giuseppe and Franca. Beati died in 1968.^[1]

Natta was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1956. By 1963, his condition had progressed to the point that he required the assistance of his son and four colleagues to present his speech at the Nobel ceremonies in Stockholm. Prof. Natta died in Bergamo, Italy at age 76.^[1]

References

1. "NATTA, Giulio" in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 78 (2013).
2. Seymour, F.B. (6 December 2012). Pioneers in Polymer Science. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 210. ISBN 978-94-009-2407-9.

Further reading

• C.E.H. Bawn (1979). "Giulio Natta, 1903—1979". Nature 280 (5724): 707. Bibcode:1979Natur.280..707B. doi:10.1038/280707a0.

External links

• Giulio biography at the Nobel Foundation
• Giulio Natta Nobel lecture