[Innovative]

I didn't know this.

What a huge difference Kevlar made and is still making.

[Innovative]

“Rest in peace, Stephanie Kwolek. Thank you for inventing Kevlar and saving Soldiers’ lives,” the U.S. Army tweeted Friday evening.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The Kevlar lady.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Ironically, a truly superb application for Kevlar was stopped dead in its tracks, and basically forbidden.

In the 1960s, Phillips 66 had the idea of making giant rolls of Kevlar, which would be laid down on road bed before the asphalt. The road would then remain smooth and be free of cracks and potholes for perhaps 20 years. It would be more expensive, but save a lot of money by not needing frequent repairs.

However, it would have put the vast majority of paving companies in the US out of business. A very profitable business. So as a group they went to state legislatures demanding that this method of paving be prohibited. And while lobbying alone wouldn’t make the sell, they had lots of organized crime connections to close the deal.

[raybbr]

Graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 1946.

[CrazyIvan]

I wonder how many times super achieving women like her and Grace Hopper are held up as examples for young women vs. the activist and community organizer parasites.

[twister881]

Thank you, Stephanie Kwolek. RIP.

Fitting that a woman should invent an impenetrable substance. Similarly, a woman developed the most powerful contraceptive known to mankind — wedding cake.

[GreyFriar]

Rest in Peace, Helmet Mom!

[Flick Lives]

Interesting story. So many things we take for granted in the modern world, but someone had to invent each and every one!

[cripplecreek]

Thank God the world still gives us inventors.

Gary Cola the self taught Detroit metallurgist will save a lot of lives with Flash Bainite which is already finding its way into armor only a few years after its invention.

(2011 FR thread)New Way to Make Lighter, Stronger Steel -- In a Flash