Wallace Carothers, inventor of nylon, with Carl Marvel, another pioneer in the field of polymer chemistry, fishing at Squaw Lake, Wisconsin. Reproduction from an original photograph, circa 1935. Carl Marvel Papers, CHF Collections.		Macromolecular theory of polymers Wood, cotton, silk, and natural rubber had been known for centuries, but they remained a puzzle to organic chemists who were trying to elucidate their molecular structures. Hermann Staudinger (1881–1965) hypothesized them to be giant chainlike macromolecules. Herman Mark (1895–1992) verified this, while Wallace Hume Carothers (1896–1937) pioneered the design and synthesis of new macromolecules like nylon. Plastics, rubber, and synthetic fibers have come to dominate our material landscape, while the understanding of biological macromolecules has opened up fresh fields of research.