Transmutations - Spring 2008

16
The Chemical Heritage Foundation’s 25th Anniversary Initiative Transmutations NO. 3 SPRING 2008 Treasure the past Educate the present Inspire the future CHF closing in on $75 million goal! (see page 14) Tritton Brings Scholarly and Entrepreneurial Experience to CHF When Thomas R. Tritton decided to step down after 10 years as president of Haverford College, CHF was not immediately on his horizon. But the 60-year-old, who became CHF’s second president on 1 January, was looking for an exciting new challenge. “I’m really lucky and thrilled that I found it at CHF,” he says. “When you’re called to a leadership position it’s because you want to do something that’s beyond just your own aspirations. It’s serving larger goals.” Finding a successor for Arnold Thackray, who founded CHF 25 years ago, presented CHF’s presidential search committee with its own challenge. Tritton was selected after an extensive international search for someone with both scholarly and entrepreneurial experience, a commitment to the chemical and molecular sciences, and the drive to sustain and expand a successful enterprise. Vincent A. Calarco, chairman of CHF’s board of directors, explains why the committee was impressed with Tritton: “Scientist, scholar, inspiring leader, Tom Tritton is the right person at the right time for CHF. His passion for chemistry, his energy, his leadership will help CHF achieve its ambitious goals as a global organization devoted to the progress and promise of science.” Tritton says he has been interested in science for as long as he can remember. While growing up in suburban Ohio, he checked out every book on astronomy, geology, and chemistry in the local library until there was nothing left for him to read. As an undergraduate at Ohio Wesleyan University Tritton was briefly tempted to study another of his main interests: music. “Then I realized you can be an amateur musician, but you can’t be an amateur scientist, so I majored in chemistry,” he says. His first chemistry professor, Violet Meek, was also the first scientist Tritton had ever met: “She showed me what it was like to be an actual scientist, as opposed to someone you read about in books or see on television.” Tritton took her cue and immersed himself in research. “It was so encompassing and so consuming of whatever powers and abilities you had, you could grab them all and use them to your fullest capacity,” he reminisces. Scientist, scholar, inspiring leader, Tom Tritton is the right person at the right time for CHF. continued on page 2 Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

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Transmutations is a newsletter published three times per year for supporters of the Chemical Heritage Foundation.

Transcript of Transmutations - Spring 2008

Page 1: Transmutations - Spring 2008

The Chemical Heritage

Foundation’s 25th Anniversary

Initiative TransmutationsN O . 3 � S P R I N G 2 0 0 8 Treasure the past Educate the present Inspire the future

CHF closing in on

$75 million goal!

(see page 14)

Tritton Brings Scholarlyand EntrepreneurialExperience to CHF

When Thomas R. Tritton decided to step down after 10 years

as president of Haverford College, CHF was not immediately

on his horizon. But the 60-year-old, who became CHF’s second

president on 1 January, was looking for an exciting new challenge.

“I’m really lucky and thrilled that I found it at CHF,” he says.

“When you’re called to a leadership position it’s because you

want to do something that’s beyond just your own aspirations.

It’s serving larger goals.”

Finding a successor for Arnold Thackray, who founded CHF

25 years ago, presented CHF’s presidential search committee

with its own challenge. Tritton was selected after an extensive

international search for someone with both scholarly and

entrepreneurial experience, a commitment to the chemical and

molecular sciences, and the drive to sustain and expand a

successful enterprise.

Vincent A. Calarco, chairman of CHF’s board of directors,

explains why the committee was impressed with Tritton:

“Scientist, scholar, inspiring leader, Tom Tritton is the right person

at the right time for CHF. His passion for chemistry, his energy, his

leadership will help CHF achieve its ambitious goals as a global

organization devoted to the progress and promise of science.”

Tritton says he has been interested in science for as long

as he can remember. While growing up in suburban Ohio, he

checked out every book on astronomy, geology, and chemistry

in the local library until there was nothing left for him to read.

As an undergraduate at Ohio Wesleyan University Tritton was

briefly tempted to study another of his main interests: music.

“Then I realized you can be an amateur musician, but you can’t

be an amateur scientist, so I majored in chemistry,” he says.

His first chemistry professor, Violet

Meek, was also the first scientist

Tritton had ever met: “She showed

me what it was like to be an actual

scientist, as opposed to someone

you read about in books or see on

television.” Tritton took her cue and

immersed himself in research. “It was

so encompassing and so consuming

of whatever powers and abilities you

had, you could grab them all and use

them to your fullest capacity,” he

reminisces.

Scientist,scholar,inspiringleader, TomTritton is theright personat the righttime for CHF.

c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 2

Phot

o by

Dou

glas

A. L

ocka

rd.

Page 2: Transmutations - Spring 2008

2

happened in the last 40 years in the molecular aspects of the

life sciences. Anyone who isn’t turned on by it probably had

a bad teacher.”

Tritton next became a postdoctoral fellow at Yale

University. After two years in the chemistry department he

switched over to the pharmacology department. “It was

there that I really got serious about cancer chemotherapy,

which became the centerpiece of most of what I did,” he

says. At the time the prevailing thought behind chemotherapy

involved killing cancer cells by attacking the cells’ DNA. “The

problem was that normal cells have DNA, too,” Tritton

explains, “and the drugs couldn’t tell the difference.”

His solution to this problem was to attack the surface of

the cells instead. It had been established that cancer cell

surfaces differed from those of normal cells. With this more

specific target, signal transduction mechanisms originating at

the cell surface could direct drug-induced repercussions from

a cell’s surface to its nucleus. “This developed into about

25 years of work by me and lots of other people,” he says,

“and a lot of modern drug development is based around that

general concept.”

Tritton graduated from Ohio Wesleyan

in 1969, during the Vietnam War. He had

received a low draft number, but he was

granted conscientious objector status

because of his Quaker beliefs. The draft

board let him search for his own alternative

service, which he found at a cancer

research laboratory at Boston University. “I

was very fortunate,” Tritton says. “During

those two years, I gained valuable research

experience and was able to continue to work

toward my Ph.D. degree.” He specialized

in cancer research because, as he asks,

“Who wouldn’t want to cure cancer, right?”

In 1973 Tritton received his doctorate

in biophysical chemistry. “My degrees are all

in chemistry,” he explains, “but my graduate

work and all subsequent work is on the life-

science side of chemistry.” His early career

coincided with revolutionary advances in

modern biological science: “So much has

Tritton’s

early career

coincided with

revolutionary

advances

in modern

biological

science.

c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 1 1

CHF’s new president, Thomas R. Tritton, third from right, and other staff membersmeet with leading representatives of PAI-NET, a Japanese organization dedicatedto best practices in the use of analytical instruments. Photo by Jennifer McCafferty.

Page 3: Transmutations - Spring 2008

3

� We have neared completing

renovations to CHF’s headquarters

in Philadelphia. New exhibition

facilities and a state-of-the-art

conference center, planned and

executed by world-renowned

architects and designers, open to

the public this fall. The article on

page 4 fully describes the project.

� CHF actively engaged audiences

throughout the country and the

world. New satellite chapters are

forming in New York City, North

Carolina’s Research Triangle,

Houston, and California’s Bay

Area. We have established our first international affilia-

tion with the Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie in Paris

and are currently collaborating with the Society of

Chemical Industry in London. We are also furthering

CHF’s presence in Asia and the Middle East.

CHF has made significant progress over the last several

years. We are well established as the central place for the

central science. Our past accomplishments form the basis for

what needs to be achieved going forward. We remain

confident that, with your continued support, we will meet

our challenges successfully.

As always, CHF takes the responsibilities of managing

our operations and stewarding our resources very seriously.

As we cross geographic boundaries, we need to build on

our previous efforts and seek new ways to fulfill our mission

and to continue creating value for all of our audiences

and constituencies.

Thank you for all that you have done and will continue to

do to support CHF. You do make a difference! I look forward

to keeping you informed of our progress throughout the year.

Vincent A. CalarcoChairman of the Board

A Letter from the Chairman

The Chemical Heritage Foundation begins its 27th year in

2008. This is an exciting time for all of us—an occasion not

only to celebrate our achievements, but also to develop

a vision that will guide CHF’s next 25 years. As we look

ahead, it is clear we must find new ways to support our

unique mission, to treasure the past, educate the present,

and inspire the future, while building on the strengths that

have made us distinctive.

This last year has been a period of change for CHF:

� Thomas R. Tritton became our second president on

1 January, and Arnold Thackray, CHF’s founder and first

president, assumed the position of chancellor. Dr. Tritton is

uniquely positioned to lead CHF. You may read more about

him in the profile on page 1.

� CHF closed in on our 25th Anniversary Initiative goal of $75

million as a result of the generous support of so many of

our friends. For details, see page 14.

� We expanded the Center for Contemporary History and

Policy with programs in Environmental History and Policy

and Biomedical Sciences and Technologies.

� CHF hosted several new conferences, including the

High-Tech Manufacturing Workshop, the joint Wharton-

CHF Symposium on the Social Studies of Nanotechnology,

and the E. N. Brandt Oral History Conference.

� Chemical Heritage magazine and CHF’s Web site underwent

redesigns, and we also initiated use of the latest elec-

tronic media. CHF now hosts a podcast, Distillations, and

two blogs, Periodic Tabloid and The Collective Voice.

I urge you to go online and be a part of our expanded

Internet presence.Ph

oto

by D

ougl

as A

. Loc

kard

.

Page 4: Transmutations - Spring 2008

This fall CHF will unveil a state-of-

the-art museum and conference

center. The museum component

of this $20 million, 10,000-square-

foot project includes the Masao

Horiba Exhibit Hall, home to

the Arnold O. Beckman Permanent

Exhibit, and the Clifford C. Hach Gallery

for changing exhibitions. The extensively

renovated space has been four

years in the making and

brought together some of the

best minds in museum design.

Ralph Appelbaum Associates

(RAA), the world’s largest inter-

pretive museum design firm, and

Dagit•Saylor Architects worked hand

in hand with CHF staff to bring to life

Making Modernity, the major exhibi-

tion opening in the Horiba Exhibit

Hall. Making Modernity highlights

CHF’s unparalleled collection of

instrumentation, fine art, rare books,

artifacts, and archival materials.

As Robert G. W. Anderson, a

CHF board member and former

director of the British Museum,

describes it, the exhibition “tells an

intriguing story of human endeavor

and relates scientific pursuit with

those practical end products which

have transformed our lives.”

The unique nature of CHF’s

collection posed challenges for RAA.

The firm, whose notable projects

include the National Constitution

Center in Philadelphia and the United

States Holocaust Memorial Museum

in Washington, D.C., is known for

tackling specialized subjects and

Making Modernity

highlights CHF’s

unparalleled

collection of

instrumentation,

fine art, rare books,

artifacts, and

archival materials.

New MuseumConference

4

Above: Erin McLeary, center, reviews exhibition fabrication with Appelbaum designers and fellow CHF staff members. Photo by Tommy Matthews. Left: A Kipp generator, ca. 1900. Photo by Gregory Tobias.

Page 5: Transmutations - Spring 2008

extracting stories from objects. But chemistry’s long, complex

history does not make for a simple narrative, and the objects

and documents of scientific heritage can be visually dull.

Still, CHF’s curators and historians insisted that the

collection tell its own story of vital significance. In Making

Modernity, science drives the tale. The education level of CHF’s

typical visitor allowed RAA to set a high bar for the collection’s

interpretation. RAA project director Tim Ventimiglia says,

“The project is very focused, and we’re excited about the

serious level of the scholarship.”

Making Modernity’s 24 sections illustrate 8 thematic

arcs ranging from chemistry’s origins to the role science plays

in the modern world. Each section presents a story based

on a person or group of people and displays items that

convey the history of a given innovation or idea. The section

entitled “Chemistry and the Public Good,” for example, features

scientists who became public advocates during the

Industrial Revolution. It includes Louis Pasteur’s 1865 letter

upbraiding French winemakers for not adopting pasteuriza-

tion, as well as photographs, journals, and popular maga-

zines from the period.

Above: The two-story Masao Horiba Exhibit Hall is under construction. Top: A Bakelite billiard ball demonstrates the use of synthetic materials in the early 20th century. Photos by Gregory Tobias.

The extensively

renovated space

has been four

years in the

making and

brought together

some of the

best minds in

museum design.

Center

5

AND

Page 6: Transmutations - Spring 2008

6

Other sections expose the chemistry

behind Isaac Newton’s work, early dyes,

Bunsen burners, thermometers, Geiger

counters, computers, fuel cells, bucky-

balls, and much more. They are

arranged to help visitors draw connections between

different scientific insights and eras. For instance, the

area devoted to synthetics pairs a vitrine about

celluloid, an artificial compound made in part from natu-

ral matter, with one about Bakelite, a completely artificial

material. The synthetics story continues with nylon, which

revolutionized the textile industry in the mid-20th century,

and GORE-TEX, a membrane used today with equal success

in outerwear and surgical implants.

Because science is ever-evolving,

Making Modernity was designed to

allow a degree of flexibility. Peter Saylor,

principal architect at Dagit•Saylor,

constantly kept the presentation of CHF’s

collection in mind as he plotted the

renovation of the 1865 wing of CHF’s

headquarters. He describes the plan

as “a contemporary intervention into

a classic building for a project where

a collection of world-class artifacts

is integral to the architecture. It

gives CHF a cutting-edge way to

deliver a history which is one of

rapid change.”

The Hach Gallery, the space

devoted to science-themed rotat-

ing exhibitions, also allows for

change. Because CHF has strong

relationships with the Smithsonian

and other loaning institutions, it was

important to reserve room for temporary

installations that offer something new to

returning visitors. According to Erin

McLeary, a curator at CHF, the space “will

also function as a recruitment

tool for future donations and

loans. Visitors will come to think

of us as the appropriate stew-

ards for artifacts that they

themselves own.”

The Hach Gallery’s first

exhibition, Molecules That

Matter, was developed by

CHF in collaboration with

the Frances Young Tang

Teaching Museum and

Art Gallery at Skidmore

College. The exhibition illustrates the significance

of 10 well-known molecules, each associated with one

decade of the 20th century and explored through molecular

CHF has high

expectations of

its innovative

new galleries

and their

potential

foothold

in the world

of science

museums.

Trading cards helped advertise celluloid products in the late 19th century. Photos by Gregory Tobias.

Page 7: Transmutations - Spring 2008

7

models, contemporary art, everyday

objects, and historical artifacts. Other

exhibitions scheduled to appear in the

Hach Gallery examine the chemistry of

plants, the history of microscopes, and

a selection of rare books.

CHF has high expectations of its

innovative new galleries and their

potential foothold in the world of

science museums. The team behind

CHF’s exhibitions fully expects them

to draw both a scientifically informed

audience and a larger, more general

crowd. To learn more about the project

and events surrounding the opening, or to

read The Collective Voice, a blog by Making Modernity’s

curators, please visit www.chemheritage.org.

The E. I. du Pont Conference Center features an auditorium and

six meeting rooms, three with prime views of Philadelphia’s

historic district and three overlooking CHF’s new gallery

space. Able to accommodate up to 250 people, the center

will be available to groups for a variety of functions beginning

in October.

Clockwise, from top: Louis Pasteur’s 1865 letter to French winemakers aboutpasteurization; Fisher Scientific International Collection. Geologic samples offluorite, left, and tourmaline. A copper still used to remove impurities and toconcentrate essential oils and spirits. Photos by Gregory Tobias.

Page 8: Transmutations - Spring 2008

Since 1988 the Trusts has chronicled the Pew scholars’

approaches to scientific inquiry through more than 200 oral

histories, building one of the most complete oral history

archives of modern American biomedical research. These

interviews offer interpretations of the activities of biomedical

innovation, including social networks and patterns of

patronage, and describe the significance of the Pew scholars

program to its participants’ development as scientists.

The accumulation of biomedical knowledge and its

applications in diagnosis, imaging, and therapeutics over the

last 30 years is staggering. Universities, governments, and

private foundations have underwritten a rapid rise in the

number of biomedical scientists, journals, disciplines, sub-

disciplines, and interdisciplinary programs and institutions.

Such exponential growth poses special challenges for poli-

cy makers and the general public. It also makes the biomed-

ical sciences ripe for oral history, as does the fact that over

90 percent of biomedical scientists who have ever lived are

still alive today.

In 2005 CHF created the Center for

Contemporary History and Policy to provide

historical perspective and analytical in-

sight to contemporary science-related

issues. The center’s Oral History Program

quickly became its largest initiative, with

a collection that has come to include over

350 interviews.

Now CHF has forged a unique part-

nership with The Pew Charitable Trusts to

establish the Pew Oral History Project.

This joint venture brings the oral history

expertise of the Center for Contemporary

History and Policy to the Pew Scholars

Program in the Biomedical Sciences,

which supports early-career scientists

doing basic biomedical research with the

potential to contribute new knowledge

about human disease and its treatment.8

CHF

has forged

a unique

partnership

with The Pew

Charitable

Trusts.

Page 9: Transmutations - Spring 2008

9

and if these histories can convey some of that—the fun,

the infinite patience required, the unexpected ‘eureka’

moments, and the thought processes that ultimately lead to

discoveries—they more than prove their value.”

The first goal of the new Pew-CHF initiative is the transfer

of existing Pew oral histories into CHF’s collection. Transcripts,

audio recordings, and other related materials are being

made accessible to CHF staff historians and researchers.

Once they have been evaluated and elements such as abstracts

and detailed indices added, the oral histories will be bound

and placed in CHF’s Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer

Library of Chemical History for public and

academic use.

Second, CHF and the Trusts are collaborat-

ing on conducting and processing new oral

histories with Pew scholars. These interviews

are an important component in perpetuat-

ing the Trusts’ mission of preserving the

scholars’ experiences for future generations.

To implement this part of the project, CHF

hired two new staff members: David Caruso

and Hilary Domush now serve as the manager

and assistant, respectively, of the Biomedical

Sciences and Technologies Program of the

Center for Contemporary History and Policy.

Caruso and Domush are working with the Pew

scholars themselves, the national advisory

committee of the Pew Scholars Program, and

the Center for the Health Professions at the

University of California, San Francisco, to

carry out the latest oral histories.

The project will also undertake longitudi-

nal studies of a select subset of Pew scholars

20 years after their graduation from the pro-

gram, to coincide with the 20th anniversary

of the national advisory committee’s decision

to initiate oral histories. Reinterviewing these

scholars, as well as members of the program’s

national advisory committee, will illustrate

Carefully

researched,

recorded, and

transcribed

interviews

reveal a side

of research

that may

not appear in

the published

record.

Hilary Domush and David Caruso of CHF’s Biomedical Sciences and Technologies Program look over completed oral histories. Photo by Jennifer McCafferty.

Oral histories are an innovative

tool for preserving and promoting an

understanding of the biomedical sci-

ences. Carefully re-searched,

recorded, and transcribed interviews

with biomedical scientists reveal a

side of research that may not appear

in the published record of scientific

achievement, as electronic methods

of documenting findings and other

changes in how scientists commu-

nicate mean that ever less primary

source material is saved for future

analysis. Oral histories also capture

scientists’ perspectives on their

own work, which are no longer

found in personal papers or written

correspondence.

As Cheryl Rusten, the managing

officer of the Pew scholars program,

puts it, “Working in the biomedical

sciences is definitely an adventure,

The accumulation

of biomedical

knowledge

over the last

30 years is

staggering.

Page 10: Transmutations - Spring 2008

the long-term impact of the program on

the scholars and capture the evolution of

the program itself. These oral histories

will also shed new light on interpreting

the past, present, and future of the bio-

medical sciences.

Finally, the Pew-CHF partnership

increases outreach and use of the com-

bined oral history collection in several

significant ways, including a fellowship

focused on oral history interpretation and

the dissemination of publications featur-

ing Pew scholars. CHF is also cataloging

each of the oral histories into systems

accessed by research libraries around the

world, digitizing audio archives and mak-

ing portions of interviews available

online, and developing Web pages to

highlight interviewees.

10

Reaching, educating, and inspiring the next generations

of scientists and scholars is the ultimate goal shared

by CHF and The Pew Charitable Trusts in forming this

exciting partnership. “Too often the history of science is an

afterthought, lost in the thrill of experiments and the discovery

of new knowledge,” Caruso says. “The Pew Charitable Trusts,

in conjunction with CHF, is making sure that the stories of

some of the nation’s most accomplished biomedical

researchers will not be relegated to obscurity, but will play

a prominent role in contemporary and future analyses of the

biomedical sciences and its policy implications.”

Reaching,

educating,

and inspiring

the next

generations

of scientists

and scholars

is the

ultimate goal.

The oral histories generated by the Pew-CHF initiative will be housed inCHF’s Othmer Library of Chemical History and made accessible to historiansand researchers. Photo by Catherine Tighe.

Page 11: Transmutations - Spring 2008

11

Tritton continued this work when he moved

to the University of Vermont in 1985. The Vermont

Comprehensive Cancer Center asked him to

serve as a deputy director as well as a professor

of pharmacology, beginning what Tritton jokes

was a “gradual deterioration” into administrative

roles. Several years later the university offered

him the position of vice provost, which he initially

refused for the sake of his research.

“They said, ‘Just do it for one year because

we really need you to do it right now,’” Tritton

recounts. “I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it for one year.’

That turned into six years. But I was able to maintain my

research momentum and do that at the same time. I was

working with a good group of people.”

When Tritton first received a call about Haverford

College’s presidential search, his projection of its feasibility

was again slightly off: “I said, ‘It’s a wonderful institution,

and I’d be happy to look at it, but I’m sure it won’t go anywhere.’

I said those exact words, and well, so much for my prediction.”

In 1997 Tritton became the 12th president of Haverford,

the oldest institution of higher learning with Quaker roots in

North America and one of the nation’s leading liberal arts

colleges. He carried on his lifelong commitment to scholarship

by writing and by teaching a course in the biology department

every academic year. Tritton’s 10 years of leadership at

Haverford were financially rewarding for the

school, which saw its endowment increase by

more than $250 million, annual giving more than

double, and its alumni giving rate rise to consis-

tently over 50 percent.

In addition to completing Haverford’s most

successful capital campaign, Tritton’s tenure will

also be remembered for the creation of three

new interdisciplinary academic centers: the John

B. Hurford Humanities Center, which celebrates

the arts and philosophy; the Center for Peace

and Global Citizenship, which cultivates Quaker

values of nonviolence and social justice; and the

Marian E. Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences

Center, where, for the first time, the departments of astrono-

my, biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics,

physics, and psychology are in one facility, promoting an

exceptional educational experience for students.

When Tritton left Haverford last summer, he immediately

headed to Harvard University as a visiting professor and

president in residence of the Graduate School of Education.

There he designed a new course on social justice and wrote

and taught about leadership and the college presidency. “We

had master’s and doctoral students who were preparing

themselves to be the next generation of leaders in higher

education,” he says. “It’s really helpful for them to have

someone around who’s led an institution.”

When asked how he feels about leading CHF, Tritton claims

that “thrilled” is not an overstatement. “I am enormously

excited to be returning to my roots as a scientist,” he

explains. “My life has been devoted to education, and the

CHF position offers a new way to continue that calling in

directions that are both original and challenging.”

He describes CHF as a place of such “radical possibility”

that it lends a pleasant complexity to his early planning for

the future. “One of the challenges is trying to figure out, of

the many things we can do, what are the things we do best,”

he says. “CHF has accomplished a lot, and there’s no upward

bound to what we can achieve.”

Tritton Brings Experience to CHF

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 2CHF has

accomplished

a lot, and

there’s no

upward

bound to

what we

can achieve.

Thomas R. Tritton addresses a crowd in CHF’s Ullyot Meeting Hall.Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

Page 12: Transmutations - Spring 2008

The name Robert W. Gore is synonymous

with innovation. Gore’s achievements as a

technologist, entrepreneur, and executive

are diverse, far-reaching, and widely

recognized. His long and successful

career of developing new products, as well

as new markets and business strategies,

began more than four decades ago, and

his understanding and appreciation of the

process of materials innovation has only

deepened in years since.

“A brilliant innovator with a remark-

able focus to business essentials, Bob

Gore not only made the key discoveries

that turned a fledgling family enterprise

into a global leader,” says Arnold

Thackray, CHF’s chancellor. “He also institutionalized a man-

agement philosophy that perennially places W. L. Gore and

Associates on the list of best places to work, both in the

United States and overseas.”

When Gore was a chemical engineering student at the

University of Delaware, his father, Wilbert L. Gore, was a

DuPont scientist who often brought new materials home to

conduct his own experiments. In 1957 Gore’s father was

working with the synthetic substance polytetrafluoroethylene

(PTFE), one form of DuPont’s Teflon. Impressed by PTFE’s

potential, the elder Gore tried to make a ribbon of insulated

multistrand electrical wire by feeding several wires and PTFE

powder between two rolls and extruding the wires covered

with the compressed powder. Unfortunately the wire ribbon

had electrical flaws because the powder coating was uneven.

When his father shared the details of the PTFE experiment

with him, Gore suggested putting the tape through the rolls

around the wire instead. After sleeping on it, his father agreed

to try. The wire proved electrically sound, and a family

enterprise was formed.

In 1958, operating out of their basement, the Gores

launched the company’s first product line of Teflon-insulated

electronic wires and cables. Three years later, W. L. Gore

and Associates moved out of the basement and into its first

facility in Newark, Delaware. In 1963 the firm received its

first patent. Gore joined the family business full time that

year, after earning a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

About Robert W. Gore

12

Robert W. Gore demonstrates the expansion of PTFE in 1982.Courtesy of W. L. Gore and Associates.

A brilliant

innovator with

a remarkable

focus to

business

essentials.

Page 13: Transmutations - Spring 2008

Over the next five years, Gore and Associates established

a presence in Arizona, West Germany, Scotland, and Japan.

Cable was its main business, but in the late 1960s changes

in the market prompted the company to look for a new prod-

uct. Thinking once more of tape, Gore returned to the lab in

1969 and decided to capitalize on a known quality of unsin-

tered PTFE tape: it could be stretched slightly to lengthen it

without apparently changing its width or thickness, thereby

creating more product with less material.

Gore heated the PTFE tape to near its melting point, then

took it out of the oven and began stretching it: “When I

stretched it slowly, it crumbled almost immediately. I was

very frustrated. I said, ‘If it won’t stretch slowly, let’s try it

faster.’ So I took the tape out of the oven and gave it a quick

jerk, and the thing stretched out 1000 percent! I couldn’t

believe it!” The PTFE now had a very fine porous structure,

yet it was as strong as the original tape with only one-tenth

the amount of material per unit.

Gore had hit a synthetics milestone. The stretched

PTFE formed a fabric with holes large enough for body heat

and moisture to escape but small enough to

deflect raindrops. After much development,

the company experienced a period of explo-

sive growth as the breathable, waterproof,

and windproof fabric found its way into sport-

ing apparel, space suits, filtration systems,

and artificial arteries. Gore & Associates

received the patent for what would be known

worldwide as GORE-TEX in 1976, the same

year Gore succeeded his father as president

and CEO.

Today Gore and Associates’ product offerings

span such diverse business segments as dental

floss, guitar strings, fiber optics, fuel cell

components, military and architectural fabrics,

surgical implants and instruments. In addition to

its focus on materials innovation, the

company, which employs approximately 8,000

people in more than 45 locations worldwide,

developed an innovative management style

known as the lattice system.

“The fundamental idea of the lattice is individual free-

dom,” Gore explains. “We’re all adults. As long as we’re con-

tributing to the enterprise, we don’t need written policies.”

To date all Gore and Associates employees are considered

associates, and there are no formal lines of reporting or

traditional bosses. Leaders known as sponsors emerge from

multidisciplined teams. And each facility houses only 200

employees, so that all associates have easy access to one

another.

It is Gore’s expertise in innovation that prompted his

sponsorship of a new case studies program in CHF’s Center

for Contemporary History and Policy. By 2009 the Gore

program will generate at least 15 in-depth case studies that

elaborate on those elements that make some innovations

succeed and others fail—the culture of a specific institution,

the experience of an individual, the availability of labor and

capital, the transfer of ideas across scientific disciplines, and

other factors.

CHF will publish the studies, which are being researched

and written by program managers in the Center for Contem-

porary History and Policy and holders of the

Robert W. Gore Fellowship in Materials

Innovation, a year-long program for advanced

Ph.D. students in economics, sociology, or the

history of science. The cases intentionally range

from established firms to startups and include

examples of extra-firm innovation. They are lim-

ited to breakthroughs made in the last 30 years.

Beyond pointing to the economic growth

and social change spurred by new materials,

the studies—with Gore as sponsor and

central inspiration—will produce a greater

understanding of the innovation process in

order to help industry leaders better organize

for successful innovation, allow governments

to better prepare for financial and social

impacts, and offer insights to a public calling

for materials innovation that generates environ-

mental benefits as well as economic growth.

The breathable,

waterproof,

windproof

fabric found

its way into

sporting apparel,

space suits,

filtration

systems,

and artificial

arteries.

13

Page 14: Transmutations - Spring 2008

14

Treasure the past Educate the present Inspire the future&25th Anniversary InitiativeProgressevents

25

33.4

25

21

25 25

17.7

72.175

0

5

10

15

20

Fund

s (m

illio

ns)

Endowment Capital Programs TOTAL

Funding Use

GoalRaised

M O V I N G T O W A R D O U R G O A L

A Note from the ChancellorThis note brings news of our tremendous progress on CHF's 25th Anniversary

Initiative. We recently received a significant a gift of $7.5 million from an

anonymous donor. The donor’s intent with such a generous gift was not

just to get us to the campaign goal of $75 million but to challenge

CHF to soar past the goal, making this the most successful

campaign in our history.

However, the real news cannot be caught in the

numbers, good though they are. The real news is of CHF as

a vibrant, growing, global organization uniquely able to

perform the vital service of recording and making known

the greatest human adventure ever. That adventure begins with

Bronze and Iron Age technology and leads on through Chinese,

Indian, and Arabic contributions to modern science. Western sci-

ence in its turn is becoming truly global: science, innovation, and technology

are now global themes, and they are keys to the health and material well-

being of the whole of humanity. How splendid then that CHF today, after its

first quarter century, enjoys the programs, the facilities, the staff, and the

leadership to treasure the past, educate the present, and inspire the

future—to bring encouragement to young people, resources to educators,

perspective to policy discussions, and balance to public understanding.

With our new challenge in place, we need your help. So please, give

generously as we head down the home stretch. Your support will enable

CHF's talented new president, Tom Tritton, and his able colleagues to

advance CHF's agendas and thus to render more extraordinary the future of

the chemical and molecular sciences.

Arnold ThackrayChancellor

Page 15: Transmutations - Spring 2008

1515

Clockwise, from top left: Nobel laureate Yuan Tseh Lee, CHF’s 2008 Othmer GoldMedalist, surrounded by Taiwanese high-school students. Photo courtesy of Hu-Wei SeniorHigh School, Taiwan. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder and chair of Biocon, discussedmodern pharmaceuticals on an episode of CHF’s weekly podcast, Distillations.Photo courtesy of Biocon, Ltd. Members of the International Union of Pure and AppliedChemistry’s Committee on Chemistry Education came from all over the world to meet at CHF. Photo by Javier Garcia. CHF’s development officer for special projects,Richard Ulrych, second from left, attends PITTCON 2008 with, from left, TsuguoSawada, Kenji Kojima, and Takeshi Murayama. Photo by Peter Cutts. CHF annually hosts scholars from around the globe; this year they include, from left, Emily Pawley,Gabriele Ferrario, Slawomir Lotysz, and Dominique Tobbell. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

Page 16: Transmutations - Spring 2008

Chemical Heritage Foundation315 Chestnut StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19106

Treasure t h e p a s tEducate t h e p r e s e n t

Inspire t h e f u t u r e

N O N P R O F I TO R G A N I Z AT I O NU . S . P O S TA G E

P A I DP H I L A D E L P H I A , PAP E R M I T N O . 5 4 6 0

Transmutations INTHISISSUE

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CHF Welcomes New President

Museum and Conference Center Update

Pew Oral History Project

Progress & Events