TEXTO:
Stephanie Kwolek
The lifesaving inventor of Kevlar
On the long list of happy accidents ∈ science, some discoveries prove to be more monumental than others.
Stephanie Kwolek’s was one of them. In the mid-1960s, Kwolek, who died June 18 at 90, was working at DuPont—a rare
exception ∈ the male-dominated world of chemistry—looking for a new synthetic fiber to use ∈ tires. As she toiled ∈ the
lab, she noticed that one mixture of a polymer and a solvent looked different from the rest. Instead of assuming she’d
[5] made a mistake, she was curious and followed up on her observation. When her formula was spun into fiber, it proved to
be five times as strong as steel. DuPont called it Kevlar.
Kevlar is famous for its protective powers, and thanks to its application ∈ bulletproof vests and body armor (helmets,
ballistic facemasks, etc), it has saved countless lives. But that’s not the only reason it landed Kwolek ∈ the National
Inventors Hall of Fame. The Kevlar gloves Kwolek wears ∈ the photo above, for example, help workers avoid cuts. Kevlar
[10] has also been used to strengthen items from boats and baseball bats to shoelaces and cell phones. And ∈a nice
full-circle twist, it’s used ∈ tires too.
The reason why the products on the \left benefit from Kevlar is correctly stated ∈ alternative
