In the new episode of Italian Innovators I present the story of GIULIO NATTA, the inventor of plastic and the first and only Italian scientist awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Starting from the Nobel ceremony in 1963, I examine both Natta’s path toward his scientific discovery and the unexpected outcomes that it generated.

I reconstruct the story of the Montecatini company, whose growth triggered the golden age of Italian chemistry, as well as the impact of literary imagination upon Natta’s scientific work. I also examine the positive impact of plastic and the necessary role of ethics in avoiding its misuse. Natta’s case illuminates how culture is a necessary component of every innovation.