Episode Two: How Did Walther’s Interest in Chemistry Begin?

Every career has an origin story. Dr. Walther Grot’s began under a Christmas tree in Berlin — with a chemistry set and a very curious ten-year-old.

In this episode, Walther traces his lifelong fascination with chemistry back to a single gift. When he was ten, he received a Kosmos chemistry set for Christmas, and it changed everything. This was no toy, he’s careful to point out — not “chemical magic,” but real, scientific chemistry. He suspects a set like it wouldn’t be sold today, given modern safety standards. Chemistry, after all, can be dangerous.

He has the proof on his left thumb: a scar from an experiment that went wrong when he was around twelve. What was the experiment? Walther won’t say — he’s genuinely worried someone might try to repeat it, and he’s adamant that it isn’t something anyone should do. The lesson he took away stuck with him for life: chemistry demands respect.

The setting was Berlin in 1939, shortly after the war had begun. The city was still relatively peaceful then — beyond the reach of the British bombers that would come later. Formal chemistry wasn’t taught until the fourth year of high school, so young Walther was still too young to study it in a classroom. That did nothing to slow him down; if anything, it only sharpened his interest.

Press play above to hear the story in Walther’s own words — scar and all.