A patent was issued to Wallace Carothers and several Du Pont co-workers on February 16, 1937, covering nylon and its process of manufacture. Nylon was announced at the New York World's Fair in 1939, where it was said to be based on coal, air and water (technically true, in a broad sense, since it contained carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen) and was said to be stronger than silk. Actually, the raw materials for nylon were derived from petroleum. Nylon hose became available for women in 1940 and Du Pont sold 64 million pairs the first year. Before long, nylon was being used to make cargo nets, guitar strings, carpets, brushes and "fake fur." Wartime applications took the bulk of production until 1945, which only intensified peacetime demand. During the war, women hoarded their last pairs of precious "nylons" for special occasions, and lined up for hours when even one pair could be purchased. Nylon was a huge success after the war, which energized competition and spawned many imitators. Other Du Pont synthetic fibers with different properties, including Dacron polyester and Orlon acrylic, were commercialized soon after the war.
Du Pont hired Carothers from the Chemistry Department of Harvard University in 1928 with the understanding that he could do anything he wanted in his research, as part of a new "pure" science laboratory in Wilmington. Of course, Du Pont knew that Carothers' research was in the new field of synthetic high polymers, which might one day have commercial applications. It was already suspected that many naturally occurring materials such as wood, cotton, wool and rubber were polymeric in nature, though this was still a matter of debate among scientists. Carothers decided to continue work on polymerization, the creation of high molecular weight compounds ("polymers") by uniting many small molecules of a given kind ("monomers"). A number of high quality research papers came from his laboratory, and several incidental discoveries resulted - high molecular weight materials which might give Du Pont a return on its investment. Neoprene synthetic rubber, invented in 1930, was one of the first, along with another unusual molecule - a polyamide chemically related to wool and spider webs - which could be made into a strong, pliable fiber. But it suffered from chemical instability and other flaws and Carothers discarded it.
But by now the Great Depression had struck, and Du Pont management strongly urged Carothers to take a closer look at the new polymers which had come from his research. To his particular dismay, they insisted that he go back to the discarded fiber and solve its technical flaws. A team of scientists was assigned to work with him on it, and by 1935 a polymer with suitable properties was found. Carothers was unenthusiastic about this work, and wrote that he was now required to "regard scientific contributions as an occasional and accidental byproduct" of his research. He became obsessed with the belief that he had failed as a scientist, and slipped into clinical depression. Only three weeks after receiving the nylon patent, Carothers committed suicide by taking cyanide. Nylon went on to become the greatest money-maker in Du Pont's history, and was one of the great industrial success stories of the twentieth century. If any one product can be said to have made Du Pont the company it is today, it is nylon. At least until I retired (1990), Carothers' portrait hung in the Lavoisier Library, showplace of the Du Pont Experimental Station, and research on nylon fibers continued there in a building named for him. But the story of his tragic death was seemingly not widely known or discussed within Du Pont.
This writeup includes material from an article appearing in "American Heritage" in February, 1987. I did not realize that Carothers' suicide came so soon after the granting of the basic nylon patent.
(Last rev. 8/7/98)