James Franklin Hyde
Dow Corning Corporation
Inducted 1979
James Franklin Hyde (1903 – 1999) has been called the “Father of Silicones” and is credited with launching the silicone industry in the 1930s and designing the Chemical Elements Periodic Table. He carried out the first successful research leading to the commercial production of silicones and was a leader in fundamental and practical research in organosilicon compounds.
Hyde was born in Solvay, New York, in 1903. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Syracuse University. He then earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Illinois and received a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University under Dr. James Bryant Conant. Many years later, Hyde received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Syracuse University.
In 1931, Dr. Hyde became the first organic chemist employed by Corning Glass Works. His assignment was to see what the glass industry could do to meet the challenge imposed by the newly introduced transparent plastics. This led him to review the early work of Ladenburg and Kipping in hybridizing silicon and organic chemistry. His invention of an organosilicon resin as a substitute for organic varnishes in the electrical industry was the first step, leading progressively to several hundred useful products with unusual physical properties.
Just before World War II, silicone resins, rubbers, greases, and fluids immediately extended the serviceability and range of ships and planes and thus saved many lives. Silicones play a significant role in the design of space-age equipment. Hyde’s most notable contributions include his creation of silicone from silicon compounds and his method of making fused silica, a high-quality glass later used in aeronautics, advanced telecommunications, and computer chips.
Hyde’s work led to the formation of the Dow Corning Corporation, an alliance between the Dow Chemical Corporation and Corning Glass Works specifically created to produce silicone products. Hyde worked at Dow Corning for four full decades. Beginning as a research chemist, he was soon promoted to manager of the Organic Chemistry Research Laboratory, a position he held from 1938 to 1951. From 1951 until his retirement in 1973, he was a senior research scientist for basic organosilicon chemistry, after which he became a research consultant to Dow Corning.
Throughout his career, Hyde’s fundamental research regularly opened new areas of practical application. He demonstrated new concepts in the polymerization and depolymerization of linear polymers and laid the foundation for the present process in silicone high polymer production. He later formulated a silicone rubber that would vulcanize at room temperature. The rubber is now used in such diverse applications as dental-impression materials, encapsulation of electronic equipment, and caulking compounds for windows and bathtubs. Medical applications for silicones developed by Dr. Hyde embrace the entire body, from molding prosthetic heart valves to repairing detached retinas.
Among the many honors bestowed on Dr. Hyde are the Perkin Medal, awarded by the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry (United Kingdom), and the J.B. Whitehead Award from the National Academy of Sciences.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic materials
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Franklin_Hyde