Happy Birthday PE: Polyethylene Invented 75 Years Ago Today

Chemists met in London today to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the discovery of polyethylene (PE), the world's most produced polymer, by ICI chemists Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett. About 100 people, including veteran ICI chemists, attended a briefing on the history of PE and the commercial prospects for the polymer. Gibson and Fawcett had begun their laboratory experiment to generate PE on friday March 24, 1933 and returned to their laboratory on Monday March 27 to find a waxy polymerised substance lining their 18 millimeter...

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