John J. Grebe
Dow Chemical Company
Inducted 1990
John Joseph Grebe (given name Hans Josef Grebe) (1900 – 1984), an American physicist, came to Ohio at 14, where he acquired U.S. citizenship after seven years of residency. While working at Dow Chemical, John made important contributions to the plastics industry, including developing polystyrene, Styrofoam®, and Saran® plastics.
Grebe personally held 64 patents at Dow Chemical Company in electrochemistry, power generation, synthesis of organic compounds, and air conditioning. Grebe joined Dow in 1921, immediately after receiving his B.S. degree in physics from the Case School of Applied Science, and remained with the company for 41 years.
In addition to his work as the founder and director of the Dow Physical Research Laboratory in Midland, Michigan, he was also a founder of the Creation Research Society. He was a pioneer scientist in nuclear and physical chemistry research. He also made major contributions to simplifying plastics processing and automatic control equipment.
Grebe earned a D.Sc. Degree and M.S. from Case Institute of Technology in 1935 (now Case Western Reserve University). He became the youngest recipient ever to receive the Chemical Industry Medal. He also served as Chief Scientist to the U.S. Army Chemical Corps at Edgewood Arsenal New Baltimore from 1948 to 1949.
He was also honored with the J.W. Hyatt Award in 1946 for his work on polymerizing and producing pure styrene. Grebe also designed atomic reactors for submarines for the federal government.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic processing, Plastic materials