BKFK - Famous Inventors - Stephanie Kwolek - American Inventor of Kevlar

Stephanie Kwolek

Kevlar

Since 1971, Kevlar has been used for bullet proof vests, canoes, radial tires, skis, sails, tennis rackets, fiberoptic cables, and more.
She was a research chemist when she came up with the idea to make a strong and lightweight fiber to use for car tires. Her idea was that it would make the tires lighter and require less gas – a good idea!
She came up with a few concepts and had to go back to the drawing board a number of times but eventually she came up with Kevlar – a substance strong enough to stop a speeding bullet and flexible enough to tie a satellite to a space shuttle.
Kwolek patented Kevlar in 1966.