The $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award (1995-2006)

1999 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement
Award winner Stephanie Kwolek.
Credit: Michael Branscom

Honoring Inventive Contributions to Society

Through medical breakthroughs, technological advancement, and scientific discovery, one individual's inventions can have a profound impact on society. The $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award was given out from 1995-2006 to recognize outstanding individuals whose pioneering spirit and demonstrated inventiveness throughout their careers has improved and inspired our society.

In 2007, the award was transitioned to the Award for Sustainability in response to the growing global need to focus on inventions and innovations that address issues related to climate change, biodiversity, access to natural resources, and sustainable economic opportunities for people around the world.

Award recipients include:

Sidney Pestka (2006), known as the "father of interferon" for his groundbreaking work developing antiviral treatments for chronic hepatitis B and C, multiple sclerosis and cancers.
Robert Dennard (2005), a pioneer in digital memory technology for computers as well as developer of significant theory in electronic device scaling which has enabled computing to be portable, leading to such devices as laptops and cell phones.
Edith Flanigen (2004), a chemist who revolutionized fields from crude oil refining to hazardous waste clean up with a new generation of synthetic molecular sieve zeolites– porous compounds that separate molecules on the basis of size.

Featured Prize Winner: Stephanie Kwolek's Chemistry is More Powerful than a Speeding Bullet

Kwolek’s work with polymer fibers
has led to products such as Kevlar and
Lycra-Spandex. Credit: Michael Branscom

Stephanie Kwolek was a young woman who knew what she wanted. Inspired by her father, a naturalist, and her mother, who broke gender boundaries to support the family after Kwolek's father died, she wanted to put her aptitude for science to use with a career in medicine.

But when she graduated from Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1946, she couldn't afford medical school. She went to work for DuPont, intending to save money so that she could fulfill her dream of being a doctor. When she found herself in the research lab, though, she realized that her love for chemistry and her curiosity for invention could lead her on a new career path.

Invention depends on recognizing new possibilities to solve problems—and seizing them. "I discovered that I seem to see things that other people did not see," Kwolek recalls about her early years at DuPont. "If things don't work out I don't just throw them out, I struggle over them, to try and see if there's something there."

While trying to create a high-performance fiber for car tires, Kwolek produced a fluid, cloudy solution of liquid crystals, far from what the research team was expecting. Intrigued by the substance's strange characteristics, she pushed to have it processed through the lab's spinneret. Her curiosity was well rewarded when the resulting fiber proved to be five times stronger than steel, yet only half as dense as fiberglass.

The single strand Kwolek discovered has woven its way into applications around the world. Kevlar, best known for its use in bulletproof vests, also is used in breakpads for cars, trains, and planes, in safety helmets, in suspension bridge reinforcement, and in recreational applications such as skis and racing sails. Inventions resulting from Kwolek's work with polymer fibers have additional benefits relating to health and safety, from Lycra-Spandex, used in fitness gear, to Nomex, used in electrical insulation and fire protection gear.

Stephanie Kwolek never became a medical doctor, but her commitment to invention has saved thousands of lives.

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