ACS NEWS
Richard Vance Wolfenden Chapel Hill, N.C.
Robert E. Witkowski West Mifflin, Pa.
John Henry Woody Jr. Lookout Mountain, Tenn.
John H. Wittorf Columbus, Ohio Philip Frank Wolf Bridgewater, N.J.
James Reuben Wright Trabuco Canyon, Calif.
Ting Kai Wu Taipei, Taiwan Joseph P. Wuskell Naples, Fla. Allen J. Wysocki Arlington Heights, Ill. Tatsuhiko Yagi Shizuoka, Japan Charlie F. Yancey Germantown, Tenn.
Lymperios N. Yannopoulos Pittsburgh Kunihiko Yano Fujisawa, Japan Chien Jo Yeh St. Petersburg, Fla. J. Lyndal York Little Rock
NYLON’S 75TH ANNIVERSARY FETE Chemistry visionaries and public figures gather in Delaware to celebrate the UBIQUITOUS MATERIAL ON FEB. 28 at the Hagley Museum ing into products such as clothing, carpet& Library in Wilmington, the Delaware ing, tire cord, seat belts, sporting goods, Academy of Chemical Sciences celebrated and home furnishings. the 75th anniversary of the invention Nylon became a major moneymaker of nylon. On that date in 1935, organic and led DuPont to establish its textile chemist Gerard Berchet, a member of fibers department, which introduced Wallace H. Carothers’ research group Dacron, Orlon, Lycra, and Kevlar. “These at the DuPont Experimental Station, synthetic fibers changed our world in prepared nylon 6,6 (a condensation many ways and were a far cry from cotton, copolymer made from equal parts of wool, and linen, the ‘natural’ fibers,” says hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid), Allen A. Denio, organizer of the event, and a world-changing industry was born. cofounder of the Delaware Academy, and This synthetic fiber was first used to councilor for the ACS Delaware Section. replace silk in women’s hoCarothers was a highly resiery. In World War II, nylon spected organic chemist who INNOVATORS Connelly replaced silk in parachutes. earned his doctorate at the Uni(from left), Stemniski, After the war, DuPont inversity of Illinois under Roger and Labovsky at creased nylon research and Adams in 1924. He continued the end of the production, quickly expand- ceremonies. his research there until 1926, when he accepted a position at Harvard University. He then moved to a new research lab, informally called “Purity Hall,” at the DuPont Experimental Station in 1928. Joseph X. Labovsky, 97, the last survivor of Carothers’ research group, was the ceremony’s guest of honor. Labovsky was hired as a laboratory assistant by Carothers, and they shared a love of Russian music and literature. “Joe had come to Wilmington at age 12 from the Ukraine. Carothers had helped him receive a college scholarWWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
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William L. Young Jacksonville, Fla. Shao Yuen Yuan San Rafael, Calif. John G. Zajacek Devon, Pa. Herman Ziffer Kensington, Md.
Stuart E. Zimmerman North Potomac, Md. Jack Zulalian Hamilton, N.J. John W. Zuzack St. Louis George Zweifel Davis, Calif.
ship and was impressed by his great work ethic and laboratory skill,” Denio says. “DuPont should be recognized for hiring Dr. Carothers. He told them about his mental health problem involving episodes of deep depression, but he was hired anyway. During his employment he suffered periodic ‘spells’ when he would be absent, in some cases under hospital care. DuPont provided continuing support until his suicide in 1937,” Denio says. Stephanie L. Kwolek, who invented Kevlar as a research chemist in the textile fibers department at DuPont, was also honored at the event. The celebration was attended by DuPont Chief Innovation Officer Thomas M. Connelly Jr. and New ANTHONY CARTER (BOTH)
Stephen Staley Wise Wilmington, Del.
Castle County Executive CELEBRATION Kwolek (left) Christopher A. Coons, and Denio who presented a proclasmile for the mation thanking Caroth- camera. ers and Labovsky for “their great contribution to society.” To top off the afternoon’s festivities, Michael A. Stemniski, a chemistry professor at the University of Delaware, did the famous nylon rope trick, drawing a thin nylon filament from the interface of an aqueous solution of hexamethylenediamine and a solution of adipoyl chloride in hexane.—LINDA RABER
