Hans-Georg Elias was born in 1928. He studied at the Technical University of Hanover, Germany, and received his Ph.D. at the Technical University of Munich in 1957. After habilitation at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich) in 1961, he was appointed Senior Lecturer and later a professor of organic-chemical technology. In 1971, he became founding president and professor of Polymer Science at the Michigan Molecular Institute (MMI) in Midland, Michigan. During these years, he also worked as consultant to the polymer industry in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States and expert witness to companies and the court. He was an in-house consultant at The Dow Chemical Co., Midland (MI) (1983/84) and an independent consultant between 1985 and 1993. He continues to teach occasionally at MMI.

Professor Elias has published more than 200 scientific and technical papers and two patents on the synthesis, characterization, structure, properties, and application of synthetic and biological polymers. His ten authored or edited books have been published in English, French, German, and/or Russian, one of these, a 4-volume work, in six editions. He has lectured on invitation in fifteen countries and was a member of editorial boards of five polymer journals.