200 years of KIT/TH Karlsruhe, 125 Years of Polymer Science in Karlsruhe: The Place Where Staudinger's Polymer Research Started

Within this special issue we would like to celebrate 200 years of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the former Technical University Karlsruhe/Germany. The Technical University Karlsruhe served, according to the first president of MIT, William Barton Rogers, as the role model for the planned MIT in Boston/USA after he visited Karlsruhe. All authors of this special issue of Macromolecular Rapid Communications have been or are still active in Karlsruhe. Prof. Michael Meier, Prof. Patrick Th & eacute;ato and I are very thankful for these state-of-the-art contributions in polymer science. It might not be well known that the foundation of polymer science has very strong roots in Karlsruhe. Therefore, the intention of this short historical article is to display this rich history and especially mention people and research groups who worked in Karlsruhe in the area of polymer science over the last approximately 125 years. The history of polymer science can be found in related textbooks.