Stephanie Kwolek and the Invention of Kevlar
Near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
A woman who grew up in western Pennsylvania changed the science of materials and saved countless lives. Stephanie Kwolek was born in nineteen twenty-three and grew up in this area before becoming a polymer chemist at DuPont. In nineteen sixty-five her research led to the discovery of a liquid crystal polymer solution that, when spun into fiber, proved to be five times stronger than steel by weight.
DuPont named the material Kevlar. Today Kevlar is woven into bullet-resistant vests worn by law enforcement and military personnel around the world, as well as into tires, cables, and aerospace components. Kwolek received the National Medal of Technology in nineteen ninety-six.
Her former home stood here, in the town where her path to one of the most consequential material science discoveries in history began.
