Wallace Hume Carothers was an American chemist who invented nylon and neoprene. The name of Wallace Carothers stands out from the list of the world’s greatest inventors. His contributions to organic chemistry were recognized as outstanding and, in spite of the relatively short span of time for his productive accomplishments, he became a leader in his field with an enviable international reputation. He was a brilliant scientist but a melancholic man who was happiest out of the limelight, beavering away in his laboratory. Carothers made the breakthrough that would change the very fabric of the modern world.Carothers called it nylon and, thanks to its myriad uses, he was responsible for a 20th century industrial revolution. Clothes, ropes, weapons and machines could all be manufactured from this versatile and durable first form of plastic. It was the material that helped the Allies win the Second World War and, even now, nylon and its spin-offs surround us. Yet its inventor never lived to see the remarkable impact of nylon. Carothers was a tortured soul who struggled to cope away from his beloved test tubes and took his own life at the age of just 41.
