James Daniel D'Ianni (1914–2007) was a scientist at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company noted for his contributions to the development of

synthetic rubber A synthetic rubber is an artificial elastomer. They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About 32-million metric tons of rubbers are produced annually in the United States, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Synthetic rubb ...

. D'Ianni spent his career with Goodyear, except for a leave he took in 1946 to serve as chief of the

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

research branch of the Office of Rubber Reserve. In 1978, he retired from Goodyear as Director of Research. D'Ianni was a member of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

(ACS) and the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

. He served as president of ACS in 1980 and as head of its rubber division. He was the first ACS President to travel to China in that capacity. In 1977, the ACS Rubber Division honored D'Ianni with the Charles Goodyear Medal.

Personal

D'Ianni was born in Akron, Ohio on March 11, 1914. He married Dorothy Osterstock, also from Akron, in 1940. He died on August 14, 2007, in Akron, at age 93.

Education

*B.S., Chemistry, The University of Akron, 1934 *Ph.D.,Organic Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, 1938, under advisor Homer Adkins. *Six-week Advanced Management Program,

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Ianni, James D. Polymer scientists and engineers 1914 births 2007 deaths People from Akron, Ohio University of Akron alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences U.S. Synthetic Rubber Program University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Tire industry people Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company people