Stephanie Kwolek was born to Polish immigrant parents in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, July 31st 1923.
In 1946, Stephanie earned a degree in chemistry from Margaret Morrison Carnegie College of Carnegie Mellon University. She had planned to become a doctor and hoped she could earn enough money from a temporary job in a chemistry-related field to attend medical school. Stephanie initially only intended to work for DuPont temporarily, she found the work interesting enough to stay and not pursue a medical career.
Kevlar, which Stephanie Kwolek invented.
Stephanie Kwolek is the inventor who pioneered a technology used in protecting many soldier and police! She was working for DuPont, a chemical company, when she managed to figure out how to produce the super-strong compound in 1964. But it took Stephanie, who joined DuPont in 1946, 15 years to score a promotion! It took until 1999 until she received recognition for the achievement, but she was extremely humble and not bitter saying, “If you were ambitious and applied yourself, you could acquire a great deal of knowledge. There were a lot of bright, creative men. This made the atmosphere in which I worked so stimulating and so enjoyable.”
Stephanie Kwolek solved a problem other scientists had not. Extremely rigid polymers like the ones the chemists worked with were very hard to dissolve. But Stephanie Kwolek came up with a chemical solution that, when spun a certain way, came out bundled with all the fibres twisted in one direction.
Stephanie knew immediately she’d come up with something big. She though, “the whole thing was very exciting, let me tell you. The stiffness was absolutely spectacular. That’s when I said, “Aha.” I knew then and there it was an important discovery.”
Kevlar was so much stronger than DuPont’s previous inventions, the company had to get a new machine to measure its toughness.
So why am I reporting all this and making it an article? The problem is that Stephanie Kwolek died June 18th 2014 and I had to do some extensive research to see why the UK newspapers had not covered this story!
As an ex-military man myself, I owe her for the practical implication that I have had the pleasure of working throughout my service career. And the life saving properties during the conflicts. So I feel saddened that considering our lives have been changed on such a dramatic scale that she has had no kudos, coverage, or even a mention that is worthy of a pioneer and an amazing woman.
I could write on about how magnificent her achievement is and given the era, she had to work against a male dominated field and the money DuPont would have made in her stead would have been significant, to say the least! I am almost certain that you are wearing, or have worn something made by this woman and not have even known the history behind her.
Stephanie Kwolek has done few interviews and when she has, she has always seemed happier to have done the invention than to have been recognised for it and I think ending this article on a quote will sum up the woman and how grateful I am to her.
I raise a glass in the celebration of the understated magnificence of Stephanie Kwolek and you have the last word on how revered you are.
“At least, I’m hoping I’m saving lives. There are very few people in their careers that have the opportunity to do something to benefit mankind.”
Stephanie Kwolek died June 21st 2014, aged 90