Kevlar who invented

She discovered a passion for chemistry and medicine while at Carnegie Mellon University. Kwolek's work experimenting with polymers combined her love of fabrics and science.

She soon became fascinated by polymers , which are multiple molecules strung together to form really long chains. Polymers can be made of natural or man-made materials. Kwolek played with using low temperatures to create synthetic fibers that could withstand a lot of pressure, and remain stiff and strong.

The creation of Kevlar came about completely by accident in While analyzing molecule chains at low temperatures, Kwolek found a specific formation of molecule chains that was exceptionally strong and stiff. The solution was strange — it was cloudy and thin, unlike nylon polymers, that are clear and thick. The fibers created from this solution were the strongest anyone had ever seen—plastic strong enough to stop bullets and knives—described as being "five times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis.

A whole new industry came about from her creation of Kevlar. There are more than two hundred uses for this fabric. Mars space suits? It is the key material behind bulletproof vests , and its use has saved countless lives. It is also used in spacecrafts, planes, boats, canoes, car brakes, shoes, and even the fiber optic cables that allow you to read this article on the internet.

Kevlar is even being used in the fashion industry. Fibers are used in a variety of clothing, accessories, and equipment to help make them safer and more durable. Kelsey D. Atherton is a defense technology journalist based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Perseverance is having a blast collecting specimens on the Red Planet. Agricultural runoff isn't the only thing polluting waterways worldwide.

Knee-deep in the rising tide, a Tuvalu minister's COP26 speech makes a big impression. Sign up to receive Popular Science's emails and get the highlights. A list of the most popular browsers can be found below. Police Lt. David Spicer took four. Like thousands of other police officers and soldiers shot in the line of duty, he owes his life to a woman in Delaware by the name of Stephanie Kwolek. Kwolek, who died Wednesday at 90, was a DuPont chemist who in invented Kevlar, the lightweight, stronger-than-steel fiber used in bulletproof vests and other body armor around the world.

A pioneer as a woman in a mostly male field, Kwolek made the breakthrough while working on specialty fibers at a DuPont laboratory in Wilmington, Delaware. At the time, DuPont was looking for strong, lightweight fibers that could replace steel in automobile tires and improve fuel economy. Officer Spicer was wearing a Kevlar vest when he was shot by a drug suspect in Two rounds shattered his left arm, ripping open an artery.

A third was deflected by his badge. The last one hit his nametag, bending it into a horseshoe shape, before burrowing into his vest, leaving a inch tear. In a statement, DuPont CEO and Chairwoman Ellen Kullman described Kwolek, who retired in , as "a creative and determined chemist and a true pioneer for women in science.

Kwolek is the only female employee of DuPont to be awarded the company's Lavoisier Medal for outstanding technical achievement. She was recognized as a "persistent experimentalist and role model. During the "Women in Chemistry" interview, Kwolek recounted the development of Kevlar.

She said she found a solvent that was able to dissolve long-chain polymers into a solution that was much thinner and more watery than other polymer solutions. She persuaded a skeptical colleague to put the solution into a spinneret, which turns liquid polymers into fibers.