From rubber bands to DNA, polymers are everywhere - yet most physics curricula barely mention them. What is the reason, and what are the gaps in fundamental physics knowledge you need to fill in order to understand polymers from first principles? We will follow the historical journey of polymer physics, from Hermann Staudinger’s ridiculed "macromolecular hypothesis" to Pierre-Gilles de Gennes’ Nobel-winning insights on polymer scaling laws. Along the way, we’ll see how polymers and molecular liquids challenge the "textbook" physics you know. Why does a rubber band shrink when heated? How can a liquid "freeze" without crystallizing? What level of theory should you use to predict multiscale phenomena? How does nature design complex structures like the human brain? Polymer physics was once (and often still is) the "ugly duckling" of physics: dismissed as messy, applied, and unworthy of fundamental study. But like the fairy tale, this field transformed into a multidisciplinary swan, revolutionizing materials, biology, and technology while posing some of physics’ deepest unsolved puzzles.

ERO : Emily