At this site in 1928, Wallace H. Carothers (1896-1937) began his pioneering studies into the chemistry of giant molecules. He soon confirmed that high molecular weight molecules consist of repeating units of simple molecules (monomers) linked together by chemical bonds to form long chains (polymers), as first proposed in 1920 by German chemist Hermann Staudinger. Carothers excelled at creating polymers, and his work quickly led to the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company's highly successful commercial production of neoprene, the first synthetic rubber made in the Unied States (1932), and nylon, the world's first totally synthetic textile fiber (1939).