The American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry 1998

Citation

(1998), "The American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry 1998", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 50 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.1998.01850dab.014

The American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry 1998

The American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry 1998

Keywords: American Chemical Society

Background

Every year the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, honours as "Heroes of chemistry" men and women whose innovative work in traditional and non-traditional fields of chemistry has led to a successful commercial application or product. Previous recipients include Stephanie Kwolek, inventor of Kevlar, and Samuel Smith, inventor of Scotchgard. The honours are presented annually at one of the ACS natural meetings. This year's presentation took place at the Dallas meeting, 29 March-2 April.

"The heroes of chemistry programme recognizes men and women in the chemical industry whose inventions and hard work have changed our world for the better", says Paul H.L. Walter, ACS president. "Their accomplishments are prime examples of the vital impact of industry innovations on our world ­ we are proud to have them among our winners this year".

Individuals and teams are nominated for the Heroes of Chemistry Program by the companies they work for. The theme varies from year to year; this year's is "Innovations using petrochemicals in the automotive field".

The Dallas meeting will salute this year's recipients on 29 March, at a private reception and dinner. The keynote speaker will be Dr E. Gary Cook, chief executive officer, president and chairman of Witco Corporation.

The Heroes of Chemistry 1998 include the following:

Motor oils and lubricants

Lubricant viscosity modifiers

Drs Gary Ver Strate, Ricardo Bloch, Mark Struglinski, John Honston and Roger West of Exxon Chemical Company/PARAMINS are honoured for their work on a new class of lubricant viscosity modifiers 9VMs. The new class of VMs has highly desirable viscosity and pumpability at low temperature and good filterability at room temperature. VMs are essential to the production of modern multigrade engine lubricants, products with annual sales exceeding $200 million a year.

Advanced formula synthetic lubricants

The Mobil 1 team of Mobil Oil Corporation is honoured for its work on the Mobil 1 line of synthetic lubricants. These products are based on fluids produced by chemical synthesis, and contain no impurities or waxes.