Roy J. Plunkett

Roy Plunkett starts this conversation with James Bohning by describing his family background. As the family were members of the Church of the Brethren it was natural for Plunkett to attend Manchester College, where Paul Flory was a close friend and near contemporary. Despite the rigors of the Depression, Roy Plunkett was able to complete his chemistry studies at Manchester College and to go to Ohio State University for graduate work in carbohydrate chemistry. An offer from DuPont sent Plunkett to the Jackson laboratories and the refrigerants group where an early assignment was the synthesis of tetrafluoroethylene. Plunkett tells the story of the plugged gas cylinder and his recognition of the unusual properties of the polymer. However, soon after this, Plunkett was moved to tetraethyl lead manufacture; he details his work there and his later career in the Organic Chemicals Department. The interview ends with the recognition of his pioneer work with Teflon and the honors it has brought him. In a brief second interview, Roy Plunkett tells of his common religious background with Paul Flory, their student days at Manchester College and Ohio State University, and their contacts over the years. The conversation ends with further recollections of the circumstances of the initial discovery of tetrafluoroethylene polymerization.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1936 - 1939 Research Chemist, Jackson Laboratories

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1939 - 1945 Chief Chemist, Tetraethyl Lead Plant, Chambers Works

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1945 - 1949 Superintendent, Tetraethyl Lead Plant, Chambers Works

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1949 - 1950 Superintendent, Ponsol Colors, Chambers Works

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1950 - 1951 Assistant Manager, Chambers Works

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1952 - 1953 Manager, Chemical Development, Organic Chemicals

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1953 - 1960 Manager, Plants Technology, Organic Chemicals

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1960 - 1970 Director of Research, Freon Products, Jackson Laboratories

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1970 - 1975 Director of Operations, Freon Products Division, Organic Chemicals

James J. Bohning

James J. Bohning is professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he was a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and has presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was the foundation’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. He is currently a visiting research scientist and CESAR Fellow at Lehigh University. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society.