Daniel Wayne Fox
General Electric Plastics
Inducted 1976
Daniel Wayne Fox (1927 – 1989) was a polymer chemist known as the “father of Lexan® polycarbonate,” a leading product of General Electric Plastics (a division of General Electric), where Fox worked until his retirement in 1988. He also contributed to developing then General Electric Plastics commercial plastic Noryl® (a polyphenylene oxide – polystyrene blend) in the 1960s.
Fox received his B.S. in chemistry in 1948 from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania. He continued his education at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, receiving his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Upon graduation, he was hired by the General Electric Corporation in Schenectady, New York, as manager of chemical development. For the next 35 years, he produced ground-breaking research in his field and became the holder of 44 patents by retirement.
In 1953, while working on a project to develop a new wire insulation material, he invented Lexan®, a polycarbonate thermoplastic. Interestingly, Fox does not hold a patent for the invention of polycarbonate since Hermann Schnell of Bayer invented an identical polymer in Germany at nearly the same time. Both inventors applied for patents in 1955 and were awarded to Bayer because Schnell’s date of invention preceded Fox’s by one week. Before the patent decision, however, GE and Bayer agreed that whoever received it would allow the other party to operate by paying a royalty to the patent holder. Both Schnell and Fox are considered inventors of polycarbonate.
At General Electric, Fox’s staff often called themselves “students of Dan Fox University” because of Fox’s ability to recognize and promote young, talented scientists. Jack Welch, former CEO and chairman of GE, was one of the most notable students to graduate from “Dan Fox University.”
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic materials, Plastic management