Hermann Schnell was born in Gaienhofen, Germany in September 1916. After completion of his military career he began studying chemistry and physics at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany where he studied under Professor Hermann Staudinger (Nobel prize laureate in Chemistry, 1953) and completed his studies in 1944 with the summa cum laude doctoral degree.

In 1946 he joined the department of Research and Development at Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany and in 1953 at 36 years of age he named department leader and sent to build a second laboratory for Bayer Central Research at Krefeld-Uerdingen.

In 1971 he became the department head of Bayer's total Central Research in Leverkusen. Dr. Schnell retired in 1975 and died in September, 1999 at his birthplace Gaienhofen.

In 1995 he established the Hermann-Schnell Foundation with euro 500,000 of his personal money to promote young scientists in the field of macromolecular research.

Dr. Schnell recieved the Hermann Staudinger Gedächtnismedaille Award and the Swinburne Award. He was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2008.