Sylvia Stoesser
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Sylvia Marie Stoesser (née Goergen, July 18, 1901March 17, 1991), was an American chemist. She was the first woman to be employed as a chemist at
Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company was among the three largest chemical producers in the world in 2021. It is the operating subsidiary of Dow Inc., ...
. During her time at Dow, she made a number of major contributions, holding more than two dozen patents as a result of her research. Stoesser developed a dry cleaning fluid that used
perchloroethylene Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, and abbreviations such as perc (or PERC), and PCE, is a chlorocarbon with the formula . It is a non-flammable, stable, colorless and heavy liqu ...
and was safer than the
naphtha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...
-based solvents then in use. She was the first to explore the use of organic acid inhibitors to stimulate production in oil wells. Organic inhibitors were much more effective than inorganics, and became the basis for a profitable subsidiary, Dowell Incorporated. Stoesser improved the quality of
ethylene Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon–carbon bond, carbon–carbon doub ...
,
ethylbenzene Ethylbenzene is an organic compound with the formula . It is a highly flammable, colorless liquid with an odor similar to that of gasoline. This monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon is important in the petrochemical industry as a reaction intermediat ...
, and
styrene Styrene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2. Its structure consists of a vinyl group as substituent on benzene. Styrene is a colorless, oily liquid, although aged samples can appear yellowish. The compound evaporates easi ...
to create stable polymers including
polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It i ...
and
styrofoam Styrofoam is a brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), manufactured to provide continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and as a water barrier. This material is light blue in ...
. Her work on styrene led to major improvements in early plastics production and to the creation of synthetic substitutes for
rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 1952, she co-edited the first comprehensive work on ''Styrene, Its Polymers, Copolymers, and Derivatives''.


Early life and education

Sylvia Marie Goergen was born on July 18, 1901, to Teresa M. and George J. Goergen of
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
. She attended the
University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...
, where she received her B.S. ''
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
'' in chemistry in 1923. She then attended the
State University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 colleges offer ...
, completing her master's thesis, ''The potential of the silver in silver iodide electrode'' in 1925 and earning her Ph.D. in physical chemistry with the thesis ''The adsorption and catalytic properties of stannous acid'' in 1928. Her advisor was James Newton Pearce (1873–1936). On August 16, 1929, in Rock Creek, Maryland, she married Wesley Carl Stoesser (July 6, 1901 – March 22, 1989), a fellow chemist who had also graduated from the University of Buffalo and the University of Iowa.


Career

Prior to her marriage, she was hired to study sugar at the
National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sc ...
. She and Richard F. Jackson were given the task of finding a
sweetener A sweetener is a substance added to food or drink to impart the flavor of sweetness, either because it contains a type of sugar, or because it contains a sweet-tasting sugar substitute. Various natural non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) and artificial s ...
suitable for people with
diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
. They were the first to prepare Difructose anhydride I. In July 1928, Wesley Stoesser was hired to work in the Organic Lab at the
Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company was among the three largest chemical producers in the world in 2021. It is the operating subsidiary of Dow Inc., ...
. In 1929, Stoesser was hired as well. She was the first woman to become a scientist at Dow, and was hired directly by
Herbert Henry Dow Herbert Henry Dow (February 26, 1866 – October 15, 1930) was an American chemical industrialist who founded the American multinational conglomerate Dow Chemical. A graduate of the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio, he was a p ...
, rather than going through the usual interview and hiring process. According to one account, Wesley confided to Grace A. Dow that Sylvia would only marry and move if she had a job in her field, and Grace interceded with her husband Henry. According to the Stoessers' daughter, Judith Jaastad (later Siembieda), only the two couples knew that the new hire was a woman before she walked into the Physical Research Laboratory to start work. Stories also suggest that she was assigned to Dow's Physical Research Laboratory because at that time, it was near a library, the only building with washroom facilities for women. At the time of her hiring in 1929, she was the only person with a Ph.D. in Dow's Physical Research Laboratory. Contemporaries emphasize that she was willing to help anyone who asked, making her expertise available both within and across departments. She was referred to as the "
nasal Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination: * With reference to the human nose: ** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery * ...
chemist" because she could identify many of the ingredients in an unknown laboratory mixture by smelling it. After her daughter's birth in 1940, Stoesser was no longer employed on the Dow staff as a research chemist. However, she continued to consult for Dow.


Research

While working for Dow, Stoesser registered at least twenty-six patents. She helped to develop products including dry cleaning solvents, saran,
polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It i ...
,
styrofoam Styrofoam is a brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), manufactured to provide continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and as a water barrier. This material is light blue in ...
, high-pressure lubricants, and organic inhibitors for use in oil wells. One patent was held solely in her name. The rest list fifteen different co-owners, reflecting her extensive involvement in projects at Dow. One patent includes her husband as a co-owner.


Acid inhibitors

Five of Stoesser's patents involved the use of acid inhibitors to increase crude oil production in oil wells, a type of
well stimulation Well stimulation is a broad term used to describe the various techniques and well interventions that can be used to restore or enhance the production of hydrocarbons from an oil well, or energy from a geothermal well. Well stimulation can be p ...
. The flow of oil wells had been stimulated by the addition of acids as early as 1865, but acids tended to damage well casings and other equipment. Approached in 1932, John Grebe of Dow insisted that any acid used to improve oil well production must include an inhibitor to mitigate corrosion. One of several scientists tasked with developing effective inhibitors, Stoesser is credited as the "key inventor" of second-state inhibitors, achieving "the second great milestone in the history of acidizing" due to her work in 1932–1933. Her work was "particularly important" because she shifted focus from inorganic to organic compounds, seeking something that would produce a protective film on metallic surfaces. The organic inhibitors (including
mercaptans In organic chemistry, a thiol (; ), or thiol derivative, is any organosulfur compound of the form , where R represents an alkyl or other organic substituent. The functional group itself is referred to as either a thiol group or a sulfhydryl grou ...
) that she discovered were much more effective than the inorganics previously tried (
arsenic acid Arsenic acid or arsoric acid is the chemical compound with the chemical formula, formula . More descriptively written as , this colorless acid is the arsenic analogue of phosphoric acid. Arsenate and phosphate salts behave very similarly. Arsenic ...
and
copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
salts). Burgeoning demand for oil well treatment led to the creation of the Dow Well Service, which became the subsidiary Dowell Incorporated in November 1932. Stoesser's inhibitor research was essential to the creation and success of Dowell. Another problem that affected wells was the buildup of substances that clogged the well and restricted production. Stoesser and L. C. Chamberlain developed an organic solvent mixture that could be used to remove built-up
paraffin Paraffin may refer to: Substances * Paraffin wax, a white or colorless soft solid (also in liquid form) that is used as a lubricant and for other applications * Liquid paraffin (drug), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for med ...
deposits. Marketed as Dowell Paraffin Solvent, it contained
carbon tetrachloride Carbon tetrachloride, also known by many other names (such as carbon tet for short and tetrachloromethane, also IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, recognised by the IUPAC), is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CCl4. It is a n ...
,
perchloroethylene Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, and abbreviations such as perc (or PERC), and PCE, is a chlorocarbon with the formula . It is a non-flammable, stable, colorless and heavy liqu ...
, and
petroleum naphtha Petroleum naphtha is an intermediate hydrocarbon liquid stream derived from the refining of crude oil with CAS-no 64742-48-9. It is most usually desulfurized and then catalytically reformed, which rearranges or restructures the hydrocarbon mo ...
. It was a very successful product for Dowell. Stoesser and John Grebe may also have described the first known case of the technique that is now called
hydraulic fracturing Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of Formation (geology), formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the ...
.


Cleaning solvents

Another of Stoesser's assignments was to study cleaning solvents such as
naphtha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...
. Naphtha posed a combustion risk, and attempts were being made to ban its use. Stoesser developed an alternative dry cleaning fluid using
perchloroethylene Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, and abbreviations such as perc (or PERC), and PCE, is a chlorocarbon with the formula . It is a non-flammable, stable, colorless and heavy liqu ...
that was non-flammable and non-explosive. She also developed inhibitors that helped to prevent metal corrosion in the dry-cleaning equipment.


Styrene, polystyrene, and styrofoam

Twelve of Stoesser's patents relate to the development of early plastics in the 1930s. Stoesser was responsible for significant improvements in plastics production. Dow wanted to find ways to use
benzene Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...
. Benzene reacted with
ethylene Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon–carbon bond, carbon–carbon doub ...
to form the liquid
hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...
ethylbenzene Ethylbenzene is an organic compound with the formula . It is a highly flammable, colorless liquid with an odor similar to that of gasoline. This monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon is important in the petrochemical industry as a reaction intermediat ...
. Ethylbenzene could be
hydrogenated Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organi ...
to form the flammable liquid
monomer A monomer ( ; ''mono-'', "one" + '' -mer'', "part") is a molecule that can react together with other monomer molecules to form a larger polymer chain or two- or three-dimensional network in a process called polymerization. Classification Chemis ...
styrene Styrene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2. Its structure consists of a vinyl group as substituent on benzene. Styrene is a colorless, oily liquid, although aged samples can appear yellowish. The compound evaporates easi ...
. Styrene could be used to make the hydrocarbon
polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...
polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It i ...
. The Dow Physics Laboratory began working with styrene in 1931. Styrene was difficult to process. Reactions were highly sensitive to even small differences in temperature, and styrene was capable of reacting with itself and releasing additional heat. Even in very small amounts, some of the compounds that were produced during processing could contaminate the desired end products of the reactions. As a result, polymers made from styrene were not stable: they tended to craze and change color over time. Stoesser took on the analytical work of testing the quality of the styrene and the polymers that were created. She also studied the effects of various inhibitors on the processes. After recommending the purchase and use of a special rotary Podbielnick
still A still is an apparatus used to distillation, distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively Boiling, boil and then cooling to Condensation, condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic Distillation#Laboratory_procedures, ...
, and distilling the styrene six times, she was able to successfully produce small quantities of pure styrene for use as a
standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...
. This demonstrated that it was possible to make a pure form which was stable. Stoesser's work was essential in identifying points in the process where contamination or uncontrolled heating caused impurities. Impurities due to traces of a sulfur compound were eventually tracked back to production of the original ethylene, from which they were transferred to ethylbenzene and styrene. Working with Jim Pierce, Stoesser developed an inhibitor to produce a polystyrene of extremely high quality. This was a key step towards a low-cost commercial process for polymerization of the polystyrene Styron and a related plastic called Styraloy. Styron was crystal-clear and could be colored. Styrene was important in creating synthetic substitutes for rubber, which were of great strategic importance in World War II. It also had great commercial importance. Styron, a polystyrene, was the first of the modern plastics. It became Dow's number one product in both sales volume and earnings, during Dow's first century. In 1941, Dow company developed processes for extruding polystyrene to form foam polystyrene, also known as
Styrofoam Styrofoam is a brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), manufactured to provide continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and as a water barrier. This material is light blue in ...
. Stoesser contributed the brief reminiscence "A stimulating group" to the edited collection ''A History of the Dow Chemical Physics Lab : the freedom to be creative'' (1990). She describes the atmosphere created in her group, directed by John Grebe: Stoesser co-edited ''Styrene, Its Polymers, Copolymers, and Derivatives'' (1952) with Ray H. Boundy and Raymond F. Boyer. Stoesser is credited by Boundy as having been the primary writer of the two-volume work.


Volunteer work

Stoesser was the first woman to be elected to the
Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in Midland County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 42,547 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland metropolitan statistical area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City ...
, school board (1950–1958). She was a volunteer at the Midland hospital and at the King's Daughters Home for the Elderly.


Recognition

Stoesser died in Midland, Michigan, on March 17, 1991. On August 12, 1991, the Dow Chemical Company first aired a 30-second television commercial, "Inspiration", as part of its "Dow lets you do great things" campaign. The commercial highlighted Stoesser's achievements as the first woman scientist at Dow. The Dow newsletter, ''Dow Today'' quoted from the script: "Dr. Stoesser created a new career path for women, and for her company... the same company that leads the nation in patents granted to women over the last decade." Stoesser was inducted into the
Michigan Women's Hall of Fame The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame (MWHOF) honors distinguished women, both historical and contemporary, who have been associated with the U.S. state of Michigan. The hall of fame was founded in 1983 by Gladys Beckwith and is sponsored by the Michi ...
as of October 22, 1992, as announced in the ''Midland Daily News'' of July 5, 1992. As of 2000, with the support of alumna Yulan Tong and
Dow AgroSciences Dow AgroSciences Limited liability company, LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company specializing in not only agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, but also seeds and biotechnology solutions. The company was based in ...
, the department of chemistry at the University of Illinois established a lecture series for the Sylvia M. Stoesser Lecturer in Chemistry, which recognizes women from outside academia who have made outstanding contributions. In 2017, at the opening of the Global Dow Center in Midland, Michigan, the Dow Chemical Company announced that its Employee Development Center would be renamed the Stoesser Center.


References


Further reading

* Bohning, James J. (1990) "Subterfuge and Patriotism: Styrene at Dow for the World War II Synthetic Rubber Program.", a paper presented to the American Chemical Society Annual Meeting in 1990.


External links


Guide to the Sylvia M. Stoesser papers
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...
(Finding aid mentions a videocassette of the 30-second television commercial "Inspiration")
Dow Chemical Company Historical Image Collection
Science History Institute The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center. It was ...
,
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Pennsylvania (Also se
Othmer Library Finding Aid
for Dow Historical Collection Photograph Inventory.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stoesser, Sylvia 1901 births 1991 deaths Scientists from Buffalo, New York People from Midland, Michigan University at Buffalo alumni University of Iowa alumni School board members in Michigan American physical chemists American polymer scientists and engineers Dow Chemical Company employees American women chemists 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American chemists