Paul S. Greer

Paul Greer begins his interview with a short description of his upbringing in western Pennsylvania, where his father operated a successful business college. Greer studied chemistry at the small Grove City College, but with one year at Carnegie Institute of Technology, and then continued further studies in chemical engineering at Case. The years up to the outbreak of World War II were spent with Union Carbide, working on the early development of petrochemicals. Greer then moved to Washington, D.C., to join the War Production Board, but soon after transferred to the Office of the Rubber Director where he played an important role in process development and product quality of the butadiene-styrene rubber, GR-S. During this section of the interview technical details of the wartime program are discussed and the contributions of individuals assessed. Greer stayed in Washington after the war, eventually becoming head of research and development for the Office of Synthetic Rubber. He elaborates on the balance between natural and synthetic rubber and the effect of the Korean War. The roles of cold rubber, oil- extended rubber and masterbatch rubber are explained as well as the patent actions with General Tire & Rubber Company. Greer reviews the lessons of the government rubber program and mentions the important individual and corporate contributions. After the wind-down of the government program, Greer joined the U.S. Army Research Office and he describes his functions during this final stage of his working life.

Carbide and Carbon Chemical Corporation

1927 - 1942 Chemical Engineer

War Production Board

1942 - 1943 Senior Industrial Specialist

Office of Synthetic Rubber

1943 - 1950 Chief, Polymer Development Branch

Office of Synthetic Rubber

1950 - 1955 Chief, Research and Development Division

National Science Foundation

1955 - 1957 Engineer

United States Army Research Office

1957 - 1974 Physical Science Administrator

Peter J.T. Morris

Peter J. T. Morris is currently at the Department of the History of Science and Technology of the Open University, where he is Royal Society-British Academy Research Fellow. Morris was educated at Oxford University receiving his B.A., chemistry in 1978; D.Phil., modern history in 1983, and he was a research fellow at the Open University from 1982 to 1984. During the period 1985–1987, Peter Morris was Assistant Director for Special Projects at the Beckman Center. He was the Royal Society–British Academy Research Fellow at the Open University, Milton Keynes, between 1987 and 1991, and Edelstein International Fellow in 1991–92. He is author of the monographs, Archives of the British Chemical Industry, 1800–1914 and Polymer Pioneers; his volume The American Synthetic Rubber Research Program was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in December 1989. Morris also co-edited Milestones in 150 Years of the Chemical Industry in 1991 and The Development of Plastics in 1994.