Polytetrafluoroethylene

Roy Plunkett's empty cylinder, DuPont's Jackson Laboratory, April 6, 1938 Plunkett was making tetrafluoroethylene gas for refrigerant research when a cylinder refused to release any, even though it weighed the same as before. Instead of writing it off as faulty, he and his assistant Jack Rebok opened it and tipped out a white powder. The gas had polymerized inside into PTFE, which proved extremely heat-tolerant and stick-resistant. Its first job was in the gaseous diffusion process of the Manhattan Project. Teflon pans came years later, and the same material now coats everything from satellite components to cookware. The photo is a later reenactment of the discovery by Plunkett, Rebok and Robert McHarness.