Kevlar inventor Stepanie Kwolek dies -- Motobke.co.uk

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Subject: Kevlar inventor Stepanie Kwolek dies

Author:
MotobkeBob

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Date Posted: 04:52:50 06/24/14 Tue

Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of �superfibre� Kevlar, has died, aged 90, following a short illness.

Kwolek was born on 31 July 1923, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, graduated from Carnegie Institution of Technology with a chemistry degree and was hired by Dupont a year after the end of the second world war.

The chemist was working on tyre technology when she came up with the fibre. In 2007 she was working to find a fibre to strengthen radial tyres when she came across a thin, milky solution of polymers.

Kevlar is lightweight but extremely strong - five times tougher than steel.

Kwolek was modest about her discovery, saying it was �not exactly a Eureka! moment�. But her discovery has gone on to be used in bullet-proof vests, fire-fighter suits, fibre optic cables and, of course, protective jeans for motorcyclists.

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