Avrom Izak Medalia (3 February 192320 June 2002) was a Cabot scientist known for contributions to understanding

electrical conductivity Electrical resistivity (also called volume resistivity or specific electrical resistance) is a fundamental specific property of a material that measures its electrical resistance or how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity in ...

and dynamic properties of

carbon black Carbon black (with subtypes acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid cataly ...

filled rubbers

Education

Medalia was a graduate of the

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a Magnet school, magnet Latin schools, Latin Grammar schools, grammar State school, state school in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been in continuous operation since it was established on April 23, 1635. It is the old ...

. In 1942, he received the A.B. degree in chemistry from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He then studied

synthetic rubber A synthetic rubber is an artificial elastomer. They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About of rubber is produced annually in the United States, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Synthetic rubber, just like natural ru ...

and

emulsion polymerization In polymer chemistry, emulsion polymerization is a type of radical polymerization that usually starts with an emulsion incorporating water, monomers, and surfactants. The most common type of emulsion polymerization is an oil-in-water emulsion, in ...

under I. M. Kalthoff at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, receiving a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry in 1948.

Career

Medalia's first post-academic position was with the

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratories, United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, a hamlet of the Brookhaven, New York, Town of Brookhaven. It w ...

from 1949 to 1952. He was associate director of sponsored research at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

from 1952 to 1955. He started at Cabot in 1956 and continued there until his retirement in 1984. At Cabot, he held various positions in research and management. His most cited work concerned the effect of carbon black on the dynamic properties of rubber, in particular the

Payne effect The Payne effect is a particular feature of the stress–strain behaviour of rubber, especially rubber compounds containing fillers such as carbon black. It is named after the British rubber scientist A. R. Payne, who made extensive studies of t ...

. He also did highly influential work on the

of carbon black filled rubber. In 1978, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Plastics and Rubber Institute. He was the 1987 recipient of the

Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award The Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award is a professional award conferred by the ACS Rubber Division. Established in 1983, the award is named after Melvin Mooney, developer of the Mooney viscometer and of the Mooney-Rivlin hyperelastic ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medalia, Avrom Izak 1923 births 2002 deaths Polymer scientists and engineers 20th-century American engineers Harvard University alumni Boston Latin School alumni