Wallace Hume Carothers pioneered linear thermoplastic polymers as director of the Fundamental Research Laboratory for the DuPont Company (1929-1937). His work resulted in the development of polyamides (nylons), linear polyesters, and polyethers. Few individuals have had as profound an impact in science and industry as Carothers.

Carothers was born on April 27, 1896, in Berlington, Iowa. He attended Capital City Commercial College in Des Moines, Iowa, where he studied accounting and secretarial administration. He went on to the four-year Tarkio College in Missouri, for a bachelor's degree in chemistry (1920), and then completed a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois (1924). For a short time Carothers taught at the University of Illinois and at Harvard University, but DuPont's Charles Stine recruited him for the new fundamental research program at DuPont in 1928. Elmer K. Bolton, Carothers's immediate boss, asked him to investigate the chemistry of an acetylene polymer that might lead to a synthetic rubber.

In 1930 Carothers proved that polymers are macromolecules, laying the foundation for modern polymer science. Carothers's research team developed a substitute for rubber called neoprene, made with chlorprene. First marketed in 1930, it is still used in hoses, shoe soles, gaskets, drive belts, wet suits, and cable jacketing. Carothers's research team further experimented with polymer fibers to replace silk, beginning with polyamides, but soon moving on to polyester. During experimentation with polyesters, a researcher drew the polymer out into strands and noticed its silky appearance, leading to the development of nylon fibers.

Carothers published 31 papers, establishing general theories about polymers, and regularized the terminology of the field. In 1935 he was the first organic chemist elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Carothers contributed greatly to the most basic understanding of polymer science. He did not live to see the widespread application of his discoveries. Carothers suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life; he committed suicide in 1937.

See: Wallace Hume Carothers autobiography, http://www.madehow.com/inventorbios/69/Wallace-Hume-Carothers.ht