Background
Was born in Accrington but later moved out of town before the age of 4.
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John Whinfield
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John Rex Whinfield Commander of the Order of the British Empire was a British chemist who, together with James Tennant Dickson investigated polyesters and in 1941 produced and patented the first polyester fibre which they named Terylene, also known as Dacron, equal to or surpassing nylon in toughness and resilience.
Education
Whinfield attended Merchant Taylors" School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he read natural sciences (1921) and chemistry (1922).
Career
He worked initially as an assistant to Charles Frederick Cross and Edward John Bevan who had done earlier work on viscose rayon in 1892. In 1924 he was employed as a research chemist by the Calico Printers" Association based in Manchester. Whinfield and his assistant James Tennant Dickson investigated other types of polymers with textile fibre potential.
Whinfield and Dickson discovered how to condense terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol to yield a new polymer which could be drawn into a fibre.
Whinfield and Dickson patented their invention in July 1941, but due to wartime secrecy restrictions it was not made public until 1946. Imperial Chemical Industries (Terylene) and DuPont (Dacron) went on to produce their own versions of the fibre.
Whinfield served as an assistant director of chemical research in the Ministry of Supply during World World War World War II In 1947 he joined Imperial Chemical Industries.
Achievements
Connections
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Born
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Died
July 6, 1966 (aged 65) -
Nationality
United Kingdom
Awards
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Commander of the Order of the British Empire Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1954) Honorary fellowship of the Textile Institute (1955) Perkin Medal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists (1956)
The Perkin Medal is an award given annually by the American section of the Society of Chemical Industry to a scientist residing in America for an 'innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development'.The Perkin Medal is an award given annually by the American section of the Society of Chemical Industry to a scientist residing in America for an 'innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development'.