PBS: Wallace Carothers
- #news
- #headline

Figure timeline
Wallace Hume Carothers was an American chemist, inventor, and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, who was credited with the invention of nylon.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
science · American chemist and inventor (1896–1937) · chemist · inventor · engineer · also Wallace Carothers, Wallace Hume Carothers, Carothers
Born 27 April 1896 · Died 29 April 1937 · Q333724
20 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
1 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
PBS: Wallace Carothers
Won Lavoisier Medal for Lifetime Technical Achievement (1990).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded National Inventors Hall of Fame (1984).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Died 1937-04-29.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Committed suicide by drinking potassium cyanide, sixteen months before the public announcement of nylon's discovery on October 27, 1938
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Carothers went to the Experimental Station to work
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Carothers' sister Isobel died of pneumonia
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Carothers became the first industrial organic chemist to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a very high honor
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Carothers married Helen Sweetman, whom he had been dating since 1934
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Gerard Berchet, under the direction of Carothers, produced a half-ounce of polymer from hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid, creating polyamide 6-6, the substance that would come to be known as Nylon
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Carothers turned his attention to fibers again
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The agreement under which Carothers was hired was modified by Dr
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Carothers moved into a house in Wilmington, which became known as Whiskey Acres, with three other DuPont scientists
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
DuPont decided to fund fundamental, pure research: research not deliberately aimed at the development of a money-making product
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Carothers moved to Harvard University, where he was again an instructor in organic chemistry
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
As a member of Zeta Chapter at the University of Illinois
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Under the guidance of Professor Carl Marvel
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
At the age of 24 with a bachelor of science degree
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
In Burlington, Iowa, to Ira and Mary Evalina Carothers
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1896-04-27.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Connections