Dr Wallace Carothers PhD
(1896-1937)

chemist, inventor, leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, and Doctor of Philosophy

Died aged c. 41

Wallace Hume Carothers (/kəˈrʌðərz/; April 27, 1896 – April 29, 1937) was an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, who was credited with the invention of nylon. Carothers was a group leader at the DuPont Experimental Station laboratory, near Wilmington, Delaware, where most polymer research was done. Carothers was an organic chemist who, in addition to first developing nylon, also helped lay the groundwork for neoprene. After receiving his Ph.D., he taught at several universities before he was hired by DuPont to work on fundamental research. He married Helen Sweetman on February 21, 1936. Carothers had been troubled by periods of depression since his youth. Despite his success with nylon, he felt that he had not accomplished much and had run out of ideas. His unhappiness was exacerbated by the death of his sister, and on April 28, 1937, he committed suicide by drinking potassium cyanide. His daughter, Jane, was born on November 27, 1937.

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Commemorated on 1 plaque

At this site in 1928, Wallace H. Carothers (1896-1937) began his pioneering studies into the chemistry of giant molecules. He soon confirmed that high molecular weight molecules consist of repeating units of simple molecules (monomers) linked together by chemical bonds to form long chains (polymers), as first proposed in 1920 by German chemist Hermann Staudinger. Carothers excelled at creating polymers, and his work quickly led to the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company's highly successful commercial production of neoprene, the first synthetic rubber made in the Unied States (1932), and nylon, the world's first totally synthetic textile fiber (1939).

TBC, Seaford, DE, United States where they began pioneering studies into the chemistry of giant molecules