Natta, Giulio, 1903–79, Italian chemist, Ph.D. the Polytechnic of Milan, 1924. Natta held brief appointments at several academic institutions, including the Univ. of Pavia (1933–35), the Univ. of Rome (1935–36), and the Polytechnic of Turin (1936–38), before becoming a professor at his alma mater in 1938. He and Karl Ziegler were jointly awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discoveries concerning the chemistry and technology of high-molecular-weight polymers. They developed the Ziegler-Natta catalysts, which enabled the production of a variety of commercially important polymers, including polyethylenes and polypropylenes.
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