Background
Plunkett was born in New Carlisle, Ohio and graduated from Newton High School in Pleasant Hill, Ohio, Manchester University (Bachelor chemistry 1932) and Ohio State University (Doctor of Philosophy chemistry 1936).
Plunkett was born in New Carlisle, Ohio and graduated from Newton High School in Pleasant Hill, Ohio, Manchester University (Bachelor chemistry 1932) and Ohio State University (Doctor of Philosophy chemistry 1936).
Ohio State University.
He discovered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), id est (that is) Teflon, in 1938. In 1936 he was hired as a research chemist by East.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company at their Jackson Laboratory in Deepwater, New Jersey. Plunkett further relates that the cylinders of TFE being used contained about 1 kg each (22 pounds) which would be relatively small, lecture bottle sized cylinders, not large cylinders.
The tetrafluoroethylene in the container had polymerized into polytetrafluoroethylene, a waxy solid with amazing properties such as resistance to corrosion, low surface friction, and high heat resistance.
Plunkett related the story of this accidental discovery at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society national meeting in the History of Chemistry section, April 1986 in New York City which was published in the Symposium Proceedings. He was the chief chemist involved in the production of tetraethyllead, a gasoline additive, at DuPont"s Chambers Works from 1939 to 1952.
After that he directed Freon production at DuPont before retiring in 1975. Attendees were given a Teflon-coated muffin tin to take home.
Other awards and honors followed.
Plunkett was inducted to the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1973 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1985. Plunkett died of cancer on May 12, 1994 at his Texas home at the age of 83.