Roy J. Plunkett, the scientist whose accidental invention of Teflon 50 years ago not only changed the way Americans cook but also helped develop a multibillion-dollar plastics industry, died Thursday at a nursing home in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was 83.
The cause was cancer, said his wife, Lois.In 1938, Plunkett was a 27-year-old research chemist for E.I. du Pont du Nemours & Co., conducting an experiment on a possible new refrigerant when he discovered he had created a new product.
Plunkett recalled later that he was looking disappointedly at a glob of white waxy material inside a laboratory cylinder, thinking the experiment a failure, when he decided to test the material for properties other than refrigeration. He found it to be resistant to heat, to be chemically inert and, better yet, to have very low surface friction so it would not stick to anything.
Lois Plunkett recalled, "He recognized almost at once that the material was different and that it had potential, and Du Pont saw it, too."
Teflon, the trade name for the polytetrafluoroethylene resin, was to become a household name in cooking pans, and three-quarters of the pots and pans sold in the United States are now coated with either Teflon or one of its cousins.
Plunkett was awarded a patent in 1941 for his invention.
The new nonstick substance also revolutionized the plastics industry by moving such synthetic materials into applications never before believed possible.
Plunkett said he was pleased to be credited with an invention that "has been of great personal benefit to people - not just indirectly, but directly to real people whom I know."