Giulio Natta

Facts

Giulio Natta

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Giulio Natta
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1963

Born: 26 February 1903, Imperia, Italy

Died: 2 May 1979, Bergamo, Italy

Affiliation at the time of the award: Institute of Technology, Milan, Italy

Prize motivation: “for their discoveries in the field of the chemistry and technology of high polymers”

Prize share: 1/2

Work

Synthetic materials like plastics are common in today's world. Plastic consists of very large molecules comprised of long chains of smaller molecules. After Karl Ziegler developed a method for creating these molecular chains using catalysts—substances that hasten the chemical process without affecting the end-products—Giulio Natta developed it further. In 1955 he discovered a catalyst that formed molecular chains with their parts oriented in certain directions. This made it possible to produce rubbery and textile-like materials.

To cite this section
MLA style: Giulio Natta – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Fri. 8 Dec 2023. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1963/natta/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Streams during Nobel Week

Watch the 2023 Nobel Prize lectures, the Nobel Prize Concert, Nobel Week Dialogue, the prize award ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm and Nobel Peace Prize Forum here at nobelprize.org.
Watch lectures and award ceremonies

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.