In a statement, DuPont CEO and Chairwoman Ellen Kullman described Kwolek, who retired in 1986, as "a creative and determined chemist and a true pioneer for women in science." While recovering from his wounds, Spicer spoke briefly by telephone with Kwolek and thanked her. "If that round would have entered my body, I wouldn't be talking to you right now," the Dover police officer said. The last one hit his nametag, bending it into a horseshoe shape, before burrowing into his vest, leaving a 10-inch tear. Two rounds shattered his left arm, ripping open an artery. Officer Spicer was wearing a Kevlar vest when he was shot by a drug suspect in 2001. "I didn't shout 'Eureka,' but I was very excited, as was the whole laboratory excited, and management was excited because we were looking for something new, something different, and this was it." "I knew that I had made a discovery," Kwolek said in an interview several years ago that was included in the Chemical Heritage Foundation's "Women in Chemistry" series. At the time, DuPont was looking for strong, lightweight fibers that could replace steel in automobile tires and improve fuel economy. Kwolek, who died Wednesday at 90, was a DuPont chemist who in 1965 invented Kevlar, the lightweight, stronger-than-steel fiber used in bulletproof vests and other body armor around the world.Ī 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. 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. 45-caliber slugs to the chest and arms at point-blank range and lived to tell about it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |