Wallace Carothers made scientific history by inventing what?

Wallace Hume Carothers (1896 – 1937) was an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, credited with the invention of nylon.

Carothers was a group leader at the DuPont Experimental Station laboratory, near Wilmington, Delaware, where most polymer research was done. Carothers was an organic chemist who, in addition to first developing nylon, also helped lay the groundwork for neoprene. After receiving his Ph.D., he taught at several universities before he was hired by DuPont to work on fundamental research.

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers, based on aliphatic or semi-aromatic polyamides. Nylon is a thermoplastic silky material that can be melt-processed into fibers, films or shapes.

It was the first commercially successful synthetic thermoplastic polymer. DuPont began its research project in 1930. The first example of nylon (nylon 6,6) was produced using diamines on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Hume Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station. In response to Carothers' work, Paul Schlack at IG Farben developed nylon 6, a different molecule based on caprolactam, on January 29, 1938.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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Lorna Shipton

Carothers called his superpolyamide “fibre 66”. The Du Pont management did not think this name had enough advertising appeal, so a naming committee was appointed that came up with almost 400 different suggestions. “Duparooh”, which was proposed by Ernest Knight Gladding (1888-1958), the head of the Du Pont rayon department, did not convince a majority of the decision-makers. The acronym was considered to be nothing more than a joke, because it stood for “DuPont Pulls A Rabbit Out Of The Hat”. “Wacara” in honour of Wallace Carothers or “Delawear”, a combination of “wear” and Delaware, the US state in which DuPont produced the polyamide fibre, found too few advocates as well. “Dusilk”, “Rayamide” and “Silkex” were also rejected. Gladding then proposed “Norun”. That sounded good and suggested that the material did not ladder (“no run”), but this name was rejected again because it was not true. Without further ado, “Norun” was changed to “Nuron”, because “nu” sounds like “new”. There was, however, a danger that it would be confused with a nerve tonic (“Neuron”). Gladding replaced the “r” by an “l” and the “u” first by an “i” and than by a “y” – and the word “nylon” was coined. A composition designed to sound good that did not really mean anything, even though claims were subsequently made about meanings on which the word was allegedly based. One of these interpretations is that “nylon” came from “New York” and “London”, because two chemists thought up the word on an intercontinental flight from one of the cities to the other. An alternative which is claimed is that DuPont chose the name “nylon” with the aim of provoking Japanese industry, which would be able to export less silk as a result of the new artificial fibre – this story says that “nylon” stands for “Now You’ve Lost, Old Nippon”

Howard Groopman

Ouch, 25% thought it was the wheel or telegraph. I eliminated both right away and guessed nylon.

Marianne Frederick Halterman

Early parachutes were made of silk. The most common fabric today is nylon. A parachute's canopy is typically dome-shaped, but some are rectangles, inverted domes, and other shapes.

earlepg

Car others obviously didn't invent the wheel, nor was he responsible for the compass. We also know that he wasn't the one that came up with the telegraph. That leaves him working up nylon.

Louella Wilson

David Colloby, wheelie! Amazing!

Merri Sillery

God help us, 10.9% chose the wheel. My head hurts,

David Colloby

The Wheel??? and even got some answers!! may be one of his ancestors

klmilles

IG Farben famously made Zyklon B. the gas used to murder people in the Auschwitz gas chambers. In fact, IG Farben had a synthetic rubber factory on the grounds of the Auschwitz camp and used slave labor from the camp in the factory. The Bayer group, then part of IG Farben, conducted medical experiments on Auschwitz inmates.