Stephanie Kwolek

Stephanie Louise Kwolek (July 31, 1923 - June 18, 2014) was an American chemist whose insight and persistence led to the discovery of Kevlar, a revolutionary aramid fiber five times stronger than steel. After earning a chemistry degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1946, she joined DuPont’s labs, and in 1964, noticing an unusually cloudy, low-viscosity polymer solution, she insisted on spinning it—producing remarkably strong fibers. Kevlar was commercialized in the early 1970s, saved thousands of lives as a core material for bulletproof vests, and expanded into over 200 applications, from helmets to aerospace cables. Over her career, she held dozens of patents and received major honors, including the U.S. National Medal of Technology and induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Quotes

• All sorts of things can happen when you’re open to new ideas and playing around with things.
• I guess that's just the life of an inventor: what people do with your ideas takes you totally by surprise.
• Even in my neighborhood, the kids come to me for interviews for their term papers. I ask them later what grades they got, and they're always A-pluses.
• I hope I'm saving lives. There are very few people in their careers that have the opportunity to do something to benefit mankind.
• Not long ago, I got to meet some troopers whose lives had been saved. They came with their wives, their children, their parents. It was a very moving occasion.