In 1938, 27-year-old chemist Roy J. Plunkett made one of the most serendipitous discoveries in modern materials science. While working at DuPont’s Jackson Laboratory in Deepwater, New Jersey, Plunkett was experimenting with tetrafluoroethylene gas (TFE), hoping to create a new refrigerant in the Freon family. But when he opened a pressurized cylinder, he found that the gas had polymerized into a waxy white solid. That substance—polytetrafluoroethylene, later branded as Teflon®—was slippery, chemically inert, and heat-resistant. It would revolutionize everything from cookware to aerospace.
Born on June 26, 1910, in New Carlisle, Ohio, Plunkett’s path to discovery was paved with academic rigor. He earned a B.A. in chemistry from Manchester College in 1932, followed by a master’s and Ph.D. from Ohio State University by 1936, where he studied carbohydrate oxidation. That same year, he joined DuPont.
Plunkett’s invention wasn’t immediately commercialized. It took over a decade before Teflon found its first major application—coating gaskets and valves in the Manhattan Project, due to its resistance to corrosive uranium hexafluoride gas. By 1949, it was being used in consumer products, most famously in non-stick cookware.
In 1951, Plunkett received the John Scott Medal from the city of Philadelphia, an honor reserved for inventions that promote the “comfort, welfare, and happiness of humankind.” Guests at the ceremony received Teflon-coated muffin tins—a poetic nod to the material’s domestic future.
He continued to rise within DuPont, eventually supervising the production of tetraethyl lead and holding key leadership roles. His contributions earned him induction into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1973 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1985.
Plunkett passed away from cancer on May 12, 1994, at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the age of 83. His legacy lives on in every frictionless surface, every heat-resistant seal, and every pan that lets an egg slide free.
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