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Stephanie Kwolek
(31 Jul 1923 - 18 Jun 2014)
American chemist and inventor who, while a textile chemist at DuPont, invented the polymer named Kevlar. She was seeking a fibre strong enough to replace the steel used in radial tyres, but Kevlar eventually was used in bulletproof jackets and military helmets.
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Science Quotes by Stephanie Kwolek (3 quotes)
[At DuPont,] I was very fortunate that I worked under men who were very much interested in making discoveries and inventions. They were very much interested in what they were doing, and they left me alone. And I was able to experiment on my own, and I found this very stimulating. It appealed to the creative person in me.
— Stephanie Kwolek
From transcript for video interview (2007, published Aug 2012), 'Stephanie Kwolek: Curiosity and the Discovery of Kevlar', in the series Women in Chemistry, on Chemical Heritage Foundation website.
I tell young people to reach for the stars. And I can't think of a greater high than you could possibly get than by inventing something.
— Stephanie Kwolek
From audio on MIT video '1999 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award Winner', on 'Innovative Lives: Stephanie Kwolek and Kevlar, The Wonder Fiber' on the Smithsonian website.
I was working with these very long-chain … extended-chain polymers, where you had a lot of benzene rings in them. … Transforming a polymer solution from a liquid to a fiber requires a process called spinning. … We spun it and it spun beautifully. It [Kevlar] was very strong and very stiff—unlike anything we had made before. I knew that I had made a discovery. I didn’t shout “Eureka!” but I was very excited, as was the whole laboratory excited, and management was excited, because we were looking for something new. Something different. And this was it.
— Stephanie Kwolek
From transcript for video interview (2007, published Aug 2012), 'Stephanie Kwolek: Curiosity and the Discovery of Kevlar', in the series Women in Chemistry, on Chemical Heritage Foundation website.
See also:
- 31 Jul - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Kwolek's birth.
- Women Inventors, by Jean F. Blashfield. - book suggestion.