Paul Winthrop Morgan

Background

Morgan was born on August 30, 1911 in West Chesterfield, New Hampshire, United States; the son of Herbert and Olive M (Lermond) Morgan.

Education

Morgan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Maine in 1937. Three years later he was given a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Organic Chemistry from Ohio State University.

Career

Morgan began his career as a postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University in 1940. A year later he took a position of a research chemist of Rayon Pioneering Research Department at E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. In 1946, Paul was appointed a research associate at the same company and held it for nine years.

The Rayon Department was renamed Textile Fibers in 1952 and then in 1957, he became a research fellow of that department at Pioneering Research Laboratory at the Experimental Station of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. In addition, Morgan served as a senior research fellow at the same company from 1973 to until his retirement in 1976. Also in 1976, he became a chemical consultant in West Chester and worked there until 1992.

Achievements

• Morgan worked up a synthetic foundation for the development of a host of advanced materials and the provision of synthetic methods and well-characterized polymers, which stimulated scientific research worldwide, especially in the area of extended-chain liquid crystalline polymers. Among the aramid fibers he developed are ones that led to Spandex and to Kevlar.
  
  He helped establish an Explorer post at the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and helped establish the Brandywine Battlefield Medal Trail.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Condensation polymers: by interfacial and solution methods, (Polymer reviews) 1965

Membership

Morgan was a member of Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Chester County Historical Society, Early American Industries Association, National Fiber Society, National Academy of Engineering and Boy Scouts of America.

Personality

Morgan`s interest was history and collection of tools. He specialized in the development of saw sets. Paul set and sharpened the tools himself and collected patent literature.

Also he was interested in mineralogy and hunted for rocks wherever he vacationed. Morgan built an extensive, carefully catalogued personal collection. That collection is kept at geological museum of West Chester University.

Connections

On August 27, 1939 Paul Morgan married Elsie Louise (Bridges) Morgan. They have two children.

Father:

Herbert Morgan (1880-1961)

Mother:

Olive M (Lermond) Morgan (1873-1934)

Spouse:

Elsie Louise (Bridges) Morgan (1907-1989)

child:

Patricia (Morgan) Harding

child:

Dennis Lee Morgan

Brother:

Russell Lermond Morgan (1913-1982)