George Oenslager
{{short description|Goodrich chemist}}
George Oenslager (September 25, 1873 – February 5, 1956){{cite web|title=George Oenslager | publisher = FindAGrave|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5305786}} was a Goodrich chemist who discovered that a derivative of aniline accelerated the vulcanization of rubber with sulfur. He first introduced carbon black{{cite book | author = John Tully | year = 2011 | title = The Devil's Milk | pages = 139 | publisher = NYU Press}} as a rubber reinforcing agent in 1912.
Biography
File:Para-dimethylamineaniline3D.png researchers David Spence and George Oenslager developed para-aminodimethylaniline as a vulcanization accelerator in 1912.]]
Oenslager attended Harrisburg & Phillips Exeter Academies, AB 1894, AM 1896. He first worked for the Warren Paper Co. in Maine from 1896 until 1905. He then worked for the Diamond & B.F. Goodrich Rubber Companies from 1905 until 1940. In 1912, Oenslager was working with David Spence at Diamond Rubber on additives to improve the vulcanization process. Working off of Oenslager's aniline additives, Spence discovered that p-aminodimethylaniline was a far superior accelerator, vastly improving the tensile strength of the rubber.{{cite journal |last1=Geer |first1=W. C. |last2=Bedford |first2=C. W. |date= January 24, 1925 |title= The History of Organic Accelerators in the Rubber Industry|journal= Industrial and Engineering Chemistry|volume= 17|issue= 4|pages= 393–396 |doi=10.1021/ie50184a021|author1-link=William C. Geer }} para-aminodimethylaniline was adopted as the accelerator of choice by the Diamond Rubber Company in 1912.{{cite journal |last=Oenslager|first=George |date= February 1933 |title= Organic Accelerators|journal= Industrial and Engineering Chemistry|volume= 25|issue= 2|pages= 232–237 |doi=10.1021/ie50278a031}} During World War I Oenslager inflated the first hydrogen balloon in the US.{{cn|date=October 2018}}
Oenslager received his Ph.D. from Harvard under Prof. Theodore William Richards.{{Cite book|title=Chains of Opportunity, page 15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kYv--GsFlqAC&pg=PA15|isbn=9781931968539|last1=Bowles|first1=Mark D.|year=2008}}
He was awarded the Perkin Medal in 1933 for his discovery of organic accelerators, specifically thiocarbanilide. This development crucial to the commercialization of both natural and synthetic rubber.{{cite journal | title = Accomplishments of the Medalist | first =H. L. | last = Trumbull| journal = Ind. Eng. Chem. | year = 1933| volume = 25| issue = 2| pages = 230–232 | doi = 10.1021/ie50278a030}} Oenslager was awarded the Charles Goodyear Medal in 1948.
He was married to Ruth Alderfer Oenslager.{{cite web|title=Ruth Alderfer Oenslager, 1892-1992 |url=http://www3.uakron.edu/schlcomm/womenshistory/oenslager_r.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708233254/http://www3.uakron.edu/schlcomm/womenshistory/oenslager_r.htm |archive-date=2008-07-08 }}
References
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