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History is written with a pencil. On Thursday 11 March 1954, chemical engineer Giulio Natta wrote the following note in his diary: "Made polypropylene"We turn the pages of the years and arrive at 1963, when during a holiday in Sanremo, Natta received news of considerable importance for the timetable of his life: an official announcement from the Swedish Royal Academy. On 5 November 1963, the headline of the daily paper Corriere Lombardo was: 'Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Natta'. A little below it reads: ‘He is from Liguria, but has lived in Milan for many years, where he heads the Institute of Industrial Chemistry at the Politecnico. He has received the highest recognition for his discoveries in the field of plastics’.

On 10 December 1963, Gustav VI Adolf, King of Sweden, addressed Giulio Natta during the Nobel Prize award ceremony:

«The Royal Swedish Academy of Natural Sciences wished to show its appreciation by awarding you, Professor, the Nobel Prize. I would also like to express the Academy's admiration for the intensity with which you, Professor, despite certain difficulties, have persisted in your research».

The difficulties mentioned were due to his Parkinson's diseasewhich was diagnosed in 1956. Photographs from that period show him descending the stairs of an aeroplane with his wife Rosita, married in 1935, a literature graduate. It is to her that we owe the suggestion of a name of Greek origin for her husband's discovery: isotactic polypropylene.

In one of the many television reports that came out during that period, Natta is sitting at his desk and flipping through the telegrams of congratulations for the prize while an off-screen voice comments: ‘An unusually kind note in the scientist's study’. The camera frames a vase filled with roses, the petals coloured black, white and red, ‘It is a tribute from the students of the department of industrial chemistry in Milan to their professor, a Nobel Prize winner for inventing a new material, never seen before in the natural world. It is polymer whose molecules have the same order as things have in nature'.

Let's take a step back in this almanac of the years and head to May 1952, when the Achema chemical industry conference was held in Frankfurt. Karl Ziegler announced that he had discovered a new reaction between ethylene and aluminium. Among those attending the conference was Giulio Natta, who later tried to polymerise polypropylene with the same catalyst, despite Ziegler's negative opinion. The rest is history, written in pencil on that Thursday, 11 March 1954: ‘Made polypropylene’. 

STUDENTS OF THE NATTA SCHOOL 

«We are Natta's students», say Alumni Mario Iavarone and Mario Garassino today, who are from the Natta School. «We chose the Politecnico because he was there. And because the Politecnico is not just a university, it is the Politecnico, it is a true institution. In Italy there have been twenty Nobel Prizes so far and Natta is still the only chemical engineer to have won it. The most important message he left us is not just an insight into chemistry, but also to the idea of work itself».

Iavarone has a clear memory:

«I see him behind the desk, behind him the blackboard, the chalk in his hand. And on that blackboard he would construct an image, illustrating the appeal of rationality, of bringing something to life with the power of the mind. Most problems, he seemed to suggest, are new problems, and he taught us how to solve them methodically: by rationalising them, setting objectives and tackling them. And so those marks on the blackboard became a reality. I believe that the value of the Nobel Prize is also closely related to the people he was able to involve».

Paolo Centola, who at the age of just over twenty had the honour of being involved with Natta himself in writing the book ‘Principi della chimica industriale volume 2’ (Principles of Industrial Chemistry Volume 2), describes him as follows: «Natta was not just a researcher, he was like an orchestra conductor. And he had chosen his musicians so that they all played well: they were first violins, strings, trumpets.

In the book “Giulio Natta, l’uomo e lo scienziato”, (Giulio Natta, the man and the scientist), his daughter Franca recalled: : «The young assistants were in the house until late at night. I still remember the lamp lit on a thick walnut table in front of a 15th-century bookcase, furniture to which my father attached great value».

As Mario Iavarone explains, ‘After the chemical discovery, there was the managerial insight to focus on the enormous potential for exploiting polypropylene, which at the time was relegated to being a minor product of cracking and which has become a key player in the plastics market following the research results at the Politecnico. Montecatini made its pilot plants available in Ferrara and these young chemical engineers dressed an idea in metal and material, turning it into a production reality. 

THE DIARIES OF YOUNG GIULIO 

«28 May 1910: I'm all happy. I got an A in grammar from the Headmaster. I read quite a bit. Mum always says to me: Read those books that speak to your heart, not those that merely interest your imagination; read not out of curiosity but for instruction. While reading think, reflect to yourself, make comparisons, judgements, remember, note. Get into the habit of copying the thoughts you like, the well-crafted sentences, the pure and true words».

This is an original page from the diary kept by a young Giulio Natta. Later, a photo taken at the 1919 freshers' party in Pavia shows a horse-drawn cart and a group of student engineers presenting their mighty invention like a caravan of wonders: «A machine patented around the world and beyond for cutting broth».

Among the criers announcing it, there is a young Natta. The University chronicles of the time described him as a brilliant student who, in order to satisfy his enormous passion for science, built himself a chemical laboratory in his own home, complete with analytical scales and other useful instruments for home experimentation. Italo Pasquon, an Alumnus and collaborator with Natta, explains the strong bond the scientist had with his work: «When he did his military service it was in Milan at the Institute of General Chemistry and he did experiments on mustard gas, a gas which was used during the First World War. He tested it on his skin to see if it worked, and he always had that scar on his skin». 

GINO BRAMIERI AND THE REVOLUTION OF A NEW WORLD, AND OF MOPLEN 

To understand the importance and the social impact of Giulio Natta's discovery, even among the general public, we need only recall the TV of the time. In a 1961 Carosello entitled “Quando la moglie non c'è" (When the wife is away), actor Gino Bramieri impersonated a "houseboy" who finds himself doing housework while his wife, an architect, is away on business. He discovers that the small tin tub used to bathe his son has a hole in it, but here's a solution: a much stronger material is available. Bramieri turns to the room and says:

«What now? You know what? Moplen».

Plastic objects scroll by: a comb, a siphon, kitchen trays, a colander, a dishwasher tub, toy cars, a world of things that would go on to revolutionise industry and society. «But Madam, bear in mind» concludes Bramieri, «that it is made of Moplen». The logo brings the Carosello to an end: Moplen. Montesud polypropylene. 

Credits header and homepage: corriere.it

Today we would like to tell you about 7 Politecnico women who made history in their professional sectors of engineering, architecture and design. Seven Politecnico women who changed the vision of their chosen professions.

Premise: this is not a competition! This page is intended not as a podium, but as an invitation to reflect together. Since 1913, with the first female graduate Gaetanina Calvi, all the Politecnico Alumnae have become a fundamental part of the cultural transformation that has seen women deservedly (and sometimes with difficulty) take their places at the desks of the Poli and elsewhere. Every Politecnico female student has made and continues to make a difference (we discuss this in the book ALUMNAE - Engineers and Technologies).

Although in 2021 Italy climbed from 76th to 63rd place in the world rankings according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report, when it comes to this gender gap our country still has a great deal of room for improvement (for more details: 2021 data from Il Sole 24 ore).

This is one of the reasons why, starting from the assumption that schools are the first real arena in the fight to narrow the gender gap, the Politecnico has joined the ENHANCE program (read more here) and promoted Gender POP – Pari Opportunità Politecniche (Polytechnic Equal Opportunities), which includes initiatives such as Girls@Polimi scholarships, set up to reduce the gender gap in STEM fields and create a more inclusive environment.

Returning to our female Politecnico students who have made history: names you probably already know, some famous and others less so, but nonetheless important for having challenged the rules of the society in which they lived.

GAETANINA CALVI - CIVIL ENGINEERING ALUMNA

In 1913 she was the first female student to graduate from the Politecnico: the civil engineer Gaetanina Calvi was the only woman in her class. There were 156 graduates that year (149 of whom were engineers). Half a century had passed since the Politecnico di Milano was founded in 1863.

Her professional achievements include the design of the new wing of the Institute for the Blind in Milan, originally intended as a retirement home in 1925, in which she was involved personally, working with the architect Faravelli. In the following years, she taught mathematics and science at this same institute, which only began to give her monetary compensation in 1928 (source).

After the trailblazer Gaetanina Calvi, Maria Artini,the first female Italian electrotechnician, graduated from the Politecnico in 1918, while in 1928, Carla Maria Bassi and Elvira Morassi Bernardis were the first women to graduate in architecture (we discuss this in the book ALUMNAE - Engineers and Technologies).

AMALIA ERCOLI-FINZI - AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING ALUMNA

Born in 1937, in 1962 she was the first woman in Italy to graduate - with full marks - in Aeronautical Engineering. In this regard, she says:

"I was one of the first girls in Italy to attend scientific high school, which was then a predominantly male environment. In my class, there were only five girls out of a total of 52 students. Then, when it came time to enrol at university, my parents wanted me to become a mathematician, but I preferred aeronautical engineering. What really interested me was understanding how things work in reality".

After her studies, Ercoli-Finzi stayed on at the Politecnico as a lecturer (she taught rational mechanics and aerospace mechanics to many Alumni who will read this page) and ricercatrice. Her discoveries and experiments made her a name for herself in the international aeronautical sector. She collaborates with NASA and with the Italian (ASI) and European (ESA) space agencies.

Her most famous initiatives include coordinating and participating in several space missions, most notably the Rosetta space mission, which began in 2004 and ended in 2016 and had the aim of closely studying the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet. Read more (Read more).

Having always been active in promoting and supporting women in what are considered “male” environments, in a recent interview with Sky she defends the importance of encouraging more women to pursue scientific research:

"I really realised," she said, "that for many women I was a source of inspiration, the girls who are studying now thought that the satisfaction I transmitted for my work was a valid reason to copy and do what I do. It is a great responsibility, even our words and attitudes convey the passion for the values we have upheld. [...] In my day women like me were stars, isolated stars, Sirius rather than Aldebaran, now there are constellations. They represent constellations because they manage to form a mass; there is still much to do but we will get there.”

CINI BOERI - ARCHITECTURE ALUMNA

Cini Boeri graduated from the Politecnico in 1951, with a two-month-old baby in a pram and a job offer from Gio Ponti in her pocket. After several collaborations, in 1963 she opened a studio and her career took off with projects, teaching and research, her focus on houses, private flats and the design of everyday objects that were not "owned but used".

"When I design a house for a married couple, for example, I always suggest adding an extra room. They always ask me: "for guests?". But no! Not for guests. Because if one evening one of you has a cold they can go and sleep in another room, for example. One should be able to choose, to know that one can go to sleep with one's partner, but that one can also decide not to do so, without affecting life as a couple. I think it would be very educational to teach young people that when they get together as a couple it is not obligatory to share a bed, it is a choice. It’s much nicer.”

She is known for her democratic approach to architecture and design:

"This is a habit we picked up at the Politecnico. Our teaching there was very open minded; I don't know if it's still like that today!"

Read our interview with Cini Boeri (from our 2014 archive)

GAE AULENTI - ARCHITECTURE ALUMNA

Gae Aulenti graduated in 1953 and began her career as a designer at a time of profound evolution in the Italian architectural culture. After leaving the Politecnico, she approached two of the period’s main leaders in theoretical elaboration of architecture: the magazine Casabella Continuità, directed by Ernesto Nathan Rogers, with whom she worked between 1955 and 1965, and the IUAV – Istituto Universitario di Architettura of Venezia, where she worked from 1960 as assistant to Giuseppe Samonà.

For Gae Aulenti architecture is always a collective, never individual gesture,, something to be shared with a community. This is why many of her most famous works are public spaces: among many others, the Museum of Modern Art and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Institute of Italian Culture in Tokyo, the renovation of Palazzo Grassi in Venice, the former papal stables at the Quirinale and Piazza Cadorna in Milan.

Ghettoisation in general makes me furious. And I get particularly angry when I ear people say: I needed an architect and I chose a female one.”

For Aulenti, architecture looks ahead, beyond the gender conditions from which it must free itself and towards a new destiny to be designed and built with knowledge. She rejects the idea of the "woman architect", which she finds ghettoising. She sees talking about architecture and design in terms of gender as reinforcement of the idea that these two specialities for women are something that limits them to surfaces and decoration, while the heart and skeleton of the project are reserved for male designers.

Sources: Domus.it, Il Design è donna

ANNA CASTELLI FERRIERI – ARCHITECTURE ALUMNA

Anna Castelli Ferrieri began studying architecture at the Politecnico in 1938 and was immediately attracted by the avantgarde and Bauhaus. Over the years she studied under Franco Albini, from whom she learned the rationalist approach. She then worked in his studio where she came into contact with architects Piero Bottoni and Ernesto Nathan Rogers, who were involved in the reconstruction of Milan.

In 1942, she graduated in architecture and left Milan because of the German occupation, only to return in 1946, when she became editor-in-chief of the architecture magazine Casabella and founded her own studio.

In 1966, together with her husband Giulio Castelli and his company Kartell, she became the first woman to devote herself to to industrial design and the production of everyday objects and furniture made of plastic: some of the most famous are the 4870 stackable chair (winner of the Compasso d'Oro) and the 4970/84 furniture, modular storage solutions for the home, designed according to her principle that everyday objects should have functional person-centric design.

"If a product is unsuccessful, it is because the architect made a mistake, not because the public doesn't understand. The architect must only—but always—answer two questions: "What is needed?" and "What is missing?".

LILIANA GRASSI

''Architecture gives me a sense of being, it is a synonym of freedom, a freedom that must be constantly monitored and protected through the study of history, through an accurate research, through the loneliness of imagination, through disinterested reflection... "  

Alumna in architecture in 1947, Liliana Grassi graduated together with Ambrogio Annoni and assisted the latter for several years, both at university and on the building site. Years later she started teaching Restoration of monuments. Eminent figure in the Lombard and Italian cultural landscape, Liliana Grassi held various prestigious institutional positions, gaining recognition above all for her great practical and theoretical contribution in the field of restoration. Her most important achievement is the restoration in the name of philological rigour, love and respect for the artistic object of the ancient Ospedale Maggiore di Milanodestroyed by bombings in 1943 and then adapted to house one of the seats of the Università degli Studi.

Source: “Dal Politecnico di Milano protagonisti e grandi progetti”

FRANCA HELG

"Details are essential for the definition of the whole, a detail can determine a project and for sure characterize it. The overall result of the work is connected to details, in terms of design and quality. Details affect the spatial and volumetric values of what is built"

After graduation in 1945 she associated with , Franca Helg , with whom she collaborated until his death. In her designing work, Franca Helg has always shown meticulous attention to details, fusing modernity and classicism, rationality and creativity, giving life to works characterized by elegance and simplicity, unlinked to the cultural trends of the moment. And we must not forget industrial design: Helg created vases, handles, chairs, suspension lamps, desk lamps, floor lamps and the Primavera armchair in cane and wicker.

The teaching of Architectural Composition represented an important part of her life: earlier at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia (IUAV), then at the Politecnico di Milano, where she became full professor in 1984.

Sources: L’Enciclopedia delle donne; Corriere della Sera

Sources: designindex.it, Il Design è donna