Roy Joseph Plunkett | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1910-06-26)June 26, 1910 New Carlisle, Ohio, United States |
| Died | May 12, 1994(1994-05-12) (aged 83) Corpus Christi, Texas, United States |
| Alma mater | Manchester University (Indiana) Ohio State University |
| Known for | Teflon |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Organic chemistry |
| Institutions | DuPont |
Roy Joseph Plunkett (June 26, 1910 – May 12, 1994) was an Americanchemist. He discoveredpolytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), better known as Teflon, in 1938.
Plunkett was born inNew Carlisle, Ohio and attendedNewton High School inPleasant Hill, Ohio.[1]
In 1932, he graduated fromManchester University with a B.A. in chemistry. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1936 fromOhio State University for his work onThe Mechanism of Carbohydrate Oxidation.[2][3]
He married Dorothy Enola Detrick (1907 – 1984) on August 16, 1935 inFranklin, Ohio. Next, he married Lois Mary Koch (1925 – 1996) on May 14, 1965 inArlington, Virginia.
Plunkett died of cancer on May 12, 1994, at his Texas home at the age of 83.[4][5][3]
In 1936, he was hired as a research chemist byE.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company at its Jackson Laboratory inDeepwater, New Jersey.[1]
In 1938, while attempting to make a newchlorofluorocarbon refrigerant, Plunkett's laboratory team discoveredpolytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), better known as Teflon. InNew York City in April 1986, Plunkett shared the story of his accidental discovery at the spring meeting of theAmerican Chemical Society national meeting in the History of Chemistry section. His story was published in the Symposium Proceedings:[6]
On the morning of April 6, 1938, Jack Rebok, my assistant, selected one of the TFE cylinders that we had been using the previous day and set up the apparatus ready to go. When he opened the valve—to let the TFE gas flow under its own pressure from the cylinder—nothing happened...We were in a quandary. I couldn't think of anything else to do under the circumstances, so we unscrewed the valve from the cylinder. By this time it was pretty clear that there wasn't any gas left. I carefully tipped the cylinder upside down, and out came a whitish powder down onto the lab bench. We scraped around some with the wire inside the cylinder...to get some more of the powder. What I got out that way certainly didn't add up, so I knew there must be more, inside. Finally...we decided to cut open the cylinder. When we did, we found more of the powder packed onto the bottom and lower sides of the cylinder.
Thetetrafluoroethylene in the container hadpolymerized intopolytetrafluoroethylene, a waxy solid with that was found to have had properties such as resistance tocorrosion, low surfacefriction, and highheat resistance.
Later in his career, Plunkett was the chief chemist involved in the production oftetraethyllead, anantiknock agent that made gasoline "leaded," later discontinued over concerns about the toxic effects oflead. After that, he directed the production ofFreon, DuPont's brand name for chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant. He retired in 1975.[7]
In 1951, Plunkett received theJohn Scott Medal from the city ofPhiladelphia[7] for an invention promoting the "comfort, welfare, and happiness of humankind".[8] Attendees were given a Teflon-coated muffin tin to take home.[9] Other awards and honors followed. Plunkett was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1973[10] and theNational Inventors Hall of Fame in 1985.[11]
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