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Robert Banks (chemist)
Robert L. Banks (November 24, 1921 – January 3, 1989) was an American chemist. He was born and grew up in Piedmont, Missouri. He attended the Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Missouri, Rolla, and initiated into Alpha Phi Omega in 1940. He joined the Phillips Petroleum company in 1946 and worked there until he retired in 1985. He died in Missouri on January 3, 1989. Technical contributions He was a fellow research chemist of J. Paul Hogan. They began working together in 1946, and in 1951 invented "crystalline polypropylene" and high-density polyethylene (HDPE). These plastics were initially known by the name Marlex. The polymerization of ethylene was made possible by their discovery of the so-called Phillips catalyst. Recognition In 1987, Banks and Hogan won the Perkin Medal, and in 2001 they were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Both were given a ''Heroes of Chemistry'' award by the American Chemical Society in 1989. Banks was induc ...
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Piedmont, Missouri
Piedmont is a city in northwestern Wayne County, Missouri, Wayne County in Southeast Missouri, United States. Its population was 1,897 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Part of the Ozarks, Ozark Foothills Region, it is at the convergence of State Highways 34 and 49. Piedmont, transliterated as "foot of the mountain," is named for its position at the foot of Clark Mountain, a 1424-foot summit approximately two miles north of the town. History Piedmont was platted in 1871 when the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, Iron Mountain Railroad was extended south to that point. The community derives its name from the French ''pied'' and ''mont'', meaning "foot" and "mountain" respectively. A post office called Piedmont has been in operation since 1872. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Piedmont includes the neighborhood of Beckville, Piedmont, Missouri, Beckville. Nearby Clearw ...
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Phillips Catalyst
The Phillips catalyst, or the Phillips supported chromium catalyst, is the catalyst used to produce approximately half of the world's polyethylene. A heterogeneous catalyst, it consists of a chromium oxide supported on silica gel. Polyethylene, the most-produced synthetic polymer, is produced industrially by the polymerization of ethylene: :n C2H4 → (C2H4)n Although exergonic (i.e., thermodynamically favorable), the reaction requires catalysts. Three main catalysts are employed commercially: the Phillips catalyst, Ziegler–Natta catalysts (based on titanium trichloride), and, for specialty polymers, metallocene-based catalysts. Preparation and mechanism of action The Phillips catalyst is prepared by impregnating high surface area silica gel with chromium trioxide or related chromium compounds. The solid precatalyst is then calcined in air to give the active catalyst. Only a fraction of the chromium is catalytically active, a fact that interferes with elucidation of t ...
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Missouri University Of Science And Technology Alumni
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it borders Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas to the south and Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the west. In the south are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. At 1.5 billion years old, the St. Francois Mountains are among the oldest in the world. The Missouri River, after which the state is named, flows through the center and into the Mississippi River, which makes up the eastern border. With over six million residents, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 19th-most populous state of the country. The largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Springfield, Missouri, Springfield, and Columbia, Missouri, Columbia. The Cap ...
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American Polymer Scientists And Engineers
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label that was previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams S ...
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1989 Deaths
1989 was a turning point in political history with the " Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin Wall in November, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia and the overthrow of the communist dictatorship in Romania in December; the movement ended in December 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Revolutions against communist governments in Eastern Europe mainly succeeded, but the year also saw the suppression by the Chinese government of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. It was the year of the first Brazilian direct presidential election in 29 years, since the end of the military government in 1985 that ruled the country for more than twenty years, and marked the redemocratization process's final point. F. W. de Klerk was elected as State President of South Africa, and his regime gradually dismantled th ...
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1921 Births
Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish liner ''Santa Isabel'' breaks in two and sinks off Villa Garcia, Mexico, with the loss of 244 of the 300 people on board. * January 16 – The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa. * January 17 – The first recorded public performance of the illusion of "sawing a woman in half" is given by English stage magician P. T. Selbit at the Finsbury Park Empire variety theatre in London. * January 20 – British K-class submarine HMS K5, HMS ''K5'' sinks in the English Channel; all 57 on board are lost. * January 21 – The full-length Silent film, silent comedy drama film ''The Kid (1921 film), The Kid'', written, produced, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin (in his ...
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Plastics Hall Of Fame
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptability, combined with a wide range of other properties such as low weight, durability, flexibility, chemical resistance, low toxicity, and low-cost production, has led to their widespread use around the world. While most plastics are produced from natural gas and petroleum, a growing minority are produced from renewable resources like polylactic acid. Between 1950 and 2017, 9.2 billion metric tons of plastic are estimated to have been made, with more than half of this amount being produced since 2004. In 2023 alone, preliminary figures indicate that over 400 million metric tons of plastic were produced worldwide. If global trends in plastic demand continue, it is projected that annual global plastic production will exceed 1.3 billion tons by ...
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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 degree levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields. It is one of the world's largest scientific societies by membership. The ACS is a 501(c) organization, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code. Its headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., and it has a large concentration of staff in Columbus, Ohio. The ACS is a leading source of scientific information through its peer-reviewed scientific journals, national conferences, and the Chemical Abstracts Service. Its publications division produces over 80 Scientific journal, scholarly journals including the prestigious ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'', as well as the weekly tr ...
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Heroes Of Chemistry
The Heroes of Chemistry is an award given annually by the American Chemical Society. It highlights teams responsible for creation of innovative and impactful products based on chemistry and chemical engineering and is intended to show how human welfare is improved by industrial chemical scientists and their companies. The Heroes of Chemistry was first awarded in 1996. Multiple awards are given yearly. The award has recognized products from a variety of companies and a variety of fields. Winners include pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, zeolites, chemical processes, and polymers. The award has evolved over time. In early years, many individuals were named based on a body of work. More recently, the award has been granted to development teams responsible for commercialized products. See also * List of chemistry awards This list of chemistry awards is an index to articles about notable awards for chemistry. It includes awards by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Am ...
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National Inventors Hall Of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operates a museum in Alexandria, Virginia, sponsors educational programs, and a collegiate competition. As of 2025, 652 inventors have been inducted, mostly constituting historic persons from the past three centuries, but also including living inductees. Nominees must hold a US patent of significant contribution to the US welfare, and which advances science and useful arts. History The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 on the initiative of H. Hume Mathews, then the chairman of the National Council of Patent Law Associations (now the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations). It was launched by Ed Sobey, who was also the first director. In 1974, it gained a major sponsor in the U.S. Patent and Trademar ...
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Perkin Medal
The Perkin Medal is an award given annually by the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) to a scientist residing in America for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development." It is considered the highest honor given in the US chemical industry. The Perkin Medal was first awarded in 1906 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of mauveine, the world's first synthetic aniline dye Juan de Guillebon, better known by his stage name DyE, is a French musician. He is known for the music video of the single "Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical ele ..., by Sir William Henry Perkin, an English chemist. The award was given to Sir William on the occasion of his visit to the United States in the year before he died. It was next given in 1908 and has been given every year since then. Recipients See also * List of chemistry awards Referenc ...
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