DuPont™ Kevlar ® Vest More on Kevlar and Stephanie Kwolek • Kevlar - Stephanie Kwolek Stephanie Kwolek invented a material five times stronger than steel. • Stephanie Kwolek Stephanie Kwolek invented para-aramid fibers - used in mooring ropes, fiber-optic cables, aircraft parts, canoes and bullet-resistant vests. • DuPont Kevlar ®  Kevlar is one of the most important manmade organic fibers ever developed. Kevlar is used today in a wide variety of industrial uses.

Related Innovations • Women Inventors • History of Fabrics • Kevlar and Bullet Proof Vests

Stephanie Kwolek’s research with high performance chemical compounds for the DuPont Company led to the development of a synthetic material called Kevlar which is five times stronger than the same weight of steel. Kevlar, patented by Kwolek in 1966, does not rust nor corrode and is extremely lightweight. Many police officers owe their lives to Stephanie Kwolek, for Kevlar is the material used in bullet proof vests. Other applications of the compound include underwater cables, brake linings, space vehicles, boats, parachutes, skis, and building materials.

Stephanie Kwolek was born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania in 1923. Upon graduating in 1946 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University) with a bachelor’s degree, Stephanie Kwolek went to work as a chemist at the DuPont Company. She would ultimately obtain 28 patents during her 40-year tenure as a research scientist. In 1995, Stephanie Kwolek was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Stephanie Kwolek is truely a modern day alchemist.

Continue with >>> Kevlar and Bullet Proof Vests

Photo Provided By Dupont Science & Technology Media Kit