A surprise with a silver lining...

At the beginning of the 1970s Shirakawa was studying the polymerisation of acetylene. In his reaction vessel polyacetylene appeared in the form of an unremarkable black powder. On one occasion a visiting researcher accidentally added one thousand times more catalyst than usual. Imagine the researchers' surprise when a beautiful silvery film formed on the surface of the liquid in the vessel. The obvious question was: "If the plastic film shines like a metal, can it conduct electricity, too?"