Scientist Biography: Stephanie Kwolek – Composite Materials

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Smart Scientist biog: Meet Stephanie Kwolek the inventor of Kevlar.

Have your students heard about Stephanie Kwolek’s impact on science? This Smart Scientist biog outlines how Stephanie created Kevlar – a new super-strong composite material.

How did Stephanie Kwolek save thousands of lives without even leaving the laboratory?

Stephanie Kwolek (Source:http://www.chipchick.com)

The answer … Stephanie, one of the first women research chemists in the USA, invented a new synthetic fibre called Kevlar.

Born in 1923, Stephanie originally planned to qualify as a doctor and took a job in a chemistry-related field to fund her medical studies. However, fate had different plans for Stephanie and in 1964 she started a research project to develop new strong fibres that could be used in the composition of tyres.

Kwolek’s research developed a new method of mixing polyamides, which resulted in the creation of a liquid crystalline polymer solution. This liquid solution could be used to create a whole range of new super strong synthetic fibres, the most famous of which is Kevlar, a synthetic material five times stronger than steel!

Stephanie’s invention has saved thousands of lives because today Kevlar is used to give strength to bulletproof vests. Since its creation Kevlar has been used in over 200 different ways, including the composition of car brakes, skis, hiking and camping gear, suspension bridges, fibre optic cables, tennis racquets and aircraft parts.

Stephanie Kwolek died in June 2014 aged 90.

Did you know?

  • In 1995, Stephanie became the 4th women to be added to the 113 individuals in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
  • In 1996, Stephanie received the National Medal of Technology, and in 1997 the Perkin Medal, presented by the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry – both honours rarely awarded to women.

Could you be a famous inventor of the future?

When she was young, Stephanie never imagined she would grow up to be an inventor. She explained that:

“when you go to work for a company that does chemical research, one of the expectations is to invent things and particularly to invent things the company is interested in. So, eventually, you do invent something if you are interested enough and if you work hard enough. I was thrilled when I discovered liquid crystalline solutions.”

However, Stephanie still believed that…

“it takes a certain amount of luck, it takes being at the right place at the right time, because you may make an invention but no one may be interested in it at the time.”

So, with some hard work and a little luck … you could be the next Stephanie Kwolek!

More free resources on composites and compounds …

Image source: http://www.chipchick.com