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Step back in time to 1926. The world of the 1920s was a very uncertain place. The old order
of
things had been swept away by World War I ten years earlier, and no one was sure just
what would take its place. In Europe, economic and social chaos was leading many countries
down the road to totalitarianism.
In Asia, the Japanese war machine was gearing up to wreak
havoc on China. The future looked bleak.
But the United States, safely isolated from all these old world troubles, was shielded from all of this. The United States of 1928 was booming. The economy was good, people had jobs. Prohibition didn't keep the good times from rolling, but it made gangsters like Al Capone powerful.
Technology promised a dazzling future. Moving picture shows had begun to talk, and radio was starting to liven up those quiet evenings at home. Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic alone in his airplane "The Spirit of St. Louis" in May 1927, becoming an instant worldwide celebrity.
In this world where corporate profits came easily, and where science and technology beckoned of a glowing future, one DuPont scientist named Charles M. A. Stine made a proposal to DuPont management. He proposed that DuPont invest some of its profits into basic scientific investigation.
References
1. Hermes, Matthew. Enough for One Lifetime: Wallace Carothers, Inventor of Nylon. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society; Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation, 1996.