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Stephanie Kwolek was born on July 31, 1923 in New Kensington, Pennsylvania to John and Nellie Zajdel Kwolek. Stephanie's father died when she was 10, and her mother obtained a job with the Aluminum Company of America to support Stephanie and her brother.
Kwolek enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology (the women's college of what is now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh in 1942, graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1946. Shortly after that, she began her career at DuPont's textile fibers department in Buffalo, New York.
While at DuPont, Kwolek was assigned to search for a new, high-performance fiber that would be acid- and base-resistant and stable at high temperatures. After many long hours of work and much experimentation, she created a liquid polymer that, after being spun, was five times stronger than steel and had half the density of fiberglass. It was called Kevlar®. Today, Kevlar® fiber is used to make bullet-proof vests, aircraft parts, inflatable boats, gloves, rope, and building materials. Stephanie Kwolek patented Kevlar® and then assigned the patent to DuPont.
She was awarded the 1997 Perkin Medal from the American Chemical Society for her outstanding achievements in applied chemistry, only the second woman to receive this honor.
Kwolek has received the Kilby Award, the National Medal of Technology, and an award from the American Chemical Society for Creative Invention. In July 1995, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Stephanie Kwolek retired from DuPont in 1986 and lives in Delaware.
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