Roy Plunkett (1910-1994) received his PhD in chemistry from The Ohio State University in 1936. Upon graduation, he went to work for the DuPont, where he remained for his entire working career.
Plunkett is best known for his accidental discovery of Polytetrafluoroethylene, better known as Teflon, in 1938. One of his first assignments at DuPont was to find a non-toxic, non-flammable coolant to be used in refrigerators. His attempts led to the creation of Teflon, a slippery powder that proved capable of withstanding temperatures as cold as minus four hundred degrees Fahrenheit and as warm as five hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
Plunkett received the John Scott Medal from the city of Philadelphia in 1951, for an invention promoting the “comfort, welfare, and happiness of human kind”. 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 continued to work for DuPont until his retirement in 1975.