Ruth R. Benerito

Ruth Mary Rogan Benerito
Born (1916-01-12)January 12, 1916
New Orleans
Died October 5, 2013(2013-10-05) (aged 97)
Nationality American
Fields Physical Chemistry of Surfaces and Colloids
Institutions University of Chicago, USDA Southern Regional Research Center, Tulane University, University of New Orleans.
Alma mater Sophie Newcomb College, Tulane University
Doctoral advisor Thomas F. Young
Known for wrinkle-free fiber
Notable awards Garvan Medal, Lemelson-MIT Prize, National Inventors Hall of Fame
Spouse Frank Benerito

Ruth Rogan Benerito (January 12, 1916 – October 5, 2013)[1] was an American chemist and inventor known for her work related to the textile industry, notably including the development of wash-and-wear cotton fabrics. She held 55 patents.

Personal life

Ruth Mary Rogan was born and raised in New Orleans.[1] Her father, John Edward Rogan, was a civil engineer and railroad official. Her mother, Bernadette Rogan, was an artist. Both parents were college graduates.

Education

In an age when girls did not usually go on to higher education, her father made sure his daughters received the same education available to boys. She completed high school at age 14 and entered Sophie Newcomb College, the women's college at Tulane University, at age 15 where she earned a degree in chemistry, as well as physics and math.[1] She graduated in 1935 and moved to Bryn Mawr College to complete one year of graduate studies. She then moved to Newcomb, where she taught chemistry while researching advanced quantitative analysis and physical chemistry, organic chemistry, kinetics, and thermodynamics. While working as a teacher, Benerito took night classes to earn her master's degree from Tulane University. In 1948 she received her doctorate degree from the University of Chicago, where she conducted physical chemical research under the direction of Thomas F. Young. Her Ph.D dissertation was titled "Activity Coefficients of HCl in Ternary Aqueous Solutions". She left her job as an assistant professor in Newcomb College in 1953 to go work at the USDA Southern Regional Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture in New Orleans, where she spent most of her career.[2]

At the USDA she worked in the Intravenous Fat Program of the OilSeed Laboratory and in 1955 she was promoted project leader. In 1958 she was promoted acting head of the Colloid Cotton Chemical Laboratory and in 1959 she became the research leader of the Physical Chemistry Research Group of the Cotton Reaction Laboratory. Benerito completed a postdoc in 1972 in biophysics at Tulane University. Still at Tulane, she was an adjunct professor from 1960-1981. During that time, she also worked as a lecturer at the University of New Orleans.[2]

In later years, while she was researching cotton fibers, Benerito taught classes part-time at Tulane University and at the University of New Orleans. She retired from the USDA in 1986 but continued to teach part-time at Tulane and the University of New Orleans.

Contributions

Invention of wrinkle-free fiber

Ruth Benerito is most famous for her work relating to the use of mono-basic acid chlorides in the production of cotton, with which she has 55 patents, which allows for more wrinkle-free and durable clothing. She invented these wash-and-wear cotton fabrics while working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) laboratories in New Orleans in the 1950s.[3] Before this innovation, a family needed considerable time to iron clothes. Benerito found a way to chemically treat the surface of cotton that led not only to wrinkle-resistant fabric but also to stain- and flame-resistant fabrics. The invention was said to have "saved the cotton industry."[4]

The secret of the invention is the use of a process called crosslinking. Cotton is composed of a material called cellulose. Like synthetic nylon and polyester fibers, cellulose is a polymer; that is, its molecules are shaped like long chains containing many thousands of atoms. The long, chainlike shape of the molecules is what makes cellulose, like nylon and polyester, a good fiber. She discovered a way to treat cotton fibers so that the chainlike cellulose molecules were joined together chemically. This procedure is known as crosslinking, and it makes cotton resistant to wrinkling.

It was first thought that crosslinking was making the cotton fabric wrinkle resistant by strengthening its fibers, but the amount of crosslinking used in her treatment is small and does not add much strength. She developed a new theory on how crosslinking works. It is known that cellulose molecules can stick to each other by means of the weak hydrogen bonds between molecules. She proposed that one side effect of her crosslinking process was the strengthening of the hydrogen bonds, which made the material resistant to wrinkling.

Laboratory Equipment

Benerito's research led to the development of glassy fibers that proved useful in the manufacture of laboratory equipment.[5][6]

Method feeding seriously wounded soldiers

Besides her contribution to textile industry, during the Korean War, she developed a way to give fat intravenously to patients who were too sick to eat—a method used to feed seriously wounded soldiers.[7]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 Fox, Margalit (7 October 2013). "Ruth Benerito, Cotton Chemist of Permanent Press Renown, Dies at 97". New York Times. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  2. 1 2 Grinstein, L. S.; Rose, R. K.; Rafailovich, M. H. Women in Chemistry and Physics Westport 1993
  3. ↑ Bailey, Martha J. (1994). American Women in Science:A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO, Inc. ISBN 0-87436-740-9.
  4. ↑ "Ruth Benerito". Chemical Heritage Foundation. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  5. ↑ Miller, Stephen, Scientist ironed out the wrinkles in cotton, Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2013, p.A8
  6. ↑ Glassy materials from plumbites and cellulosics
  7. ↑ Chawkins, Steve (2013-10-12). "Obituary: Ruth Benerito, 97; chemist helped develop wrinkle-resistant cotton". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  8. ↑ "The Woman Who Changed America's Social Fabric ... With Actual Fabric". The Atlantic. October 7, 2013. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
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