Giulio Natta

Infobox_Scientist
name = Giulio Natta


image_width =
caption = Giulio Natta
birth_date = February 26 1903
birth_place = Imperia, Italy
nationality = Italy
death_date = death date and age|1979|5|2|1903|2|26
death_place = Bergamo, Italy
field = Organic chemistry
work_institution = Pavia University
University of Rome
Politecnico di Torino
alma_mater = Politecnico di Milano
known_for = Ziegler-Natta catalyst
prizes = Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1963)

Giulio Natta (February 26 1903, Imperia - Bergamo, 2 May 1979) was an Italian chemist, who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 with Karl Ziegler for work on high polymers. He was born in Imperia, Italy, on February 26, 1903. He graduated in Chemical Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano 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. From 1936 to 1938 he moved as a full professor and director of the Institute of Industrial Chemistry at the Politecnico di Torino. In 1938 he took the head of the Department of chemical engineering at Politecnico di Milano university, in a somehow criticized manner, when his predecessor Mario Giacomo Levi was forced to step down as a consequence of racial laws against Jews being introduced in fascist Italy.

His work at the Politecnico led to the improvement of earlier work by Ziegler and to the development of the Ziegler-Natta catalyst. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 with Karl Ziegler for work on high polymers.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1956. His condition became severe enough in 1963, that his son had to help him in Stockholm during the Noble Prize Award Ceremony and a colleague had to give the lecture. Prof. Natta died on May 2, 1979.

Natta is buried in the cemetery of Bergamo.

References

*cite journal
title = Giulio Natta, 1903—1979
author = C.E.H. Bawn
journal = Nature
volume = 280
issue =
pages = 707
year = 1979
url =
doi = 10.1038/280707a0

External links

* Natta's [http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1963/natta-bio.html Nobel Foundation biography]
* Natta's Nobel Lecture [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1963/natta-lecture.pdf From the Stereospecific Polymerization to the Asymmetric Autocatalytic Synthesis of Macromolecules]

Persondata
NAME= Natta, Giulio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Italian chemist, who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963
DATE OF BIRTH= February 26 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH= Imperia, Italy
DATE OF DEATH= 1979-5-2
PLACE OF DEATH= Bergamo, Italy