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America entered the war in 1917 and many university chemists were transferred to Washington,
DC, to work on chemical warfare problems. Adams became a Major in a unit that emphasized
chemical warfare problems and maintained contact with the group at Illinois asking them to furnish
chemicals on a rush basis. Speed also helped in the preparation of steel furnishing steel makers with
a chemical needed to analyze nickel steel.
At the end of the war there was a lessening in the need for chemists as industry reorganized itself for
peace. At the end of the war, 1921, Speed was able to complete his graduate work at Illinois in organic
chemistry. He had wanted to work in industry, but industrial jobs were hard to get at this time so he
stayed on as an instructor. The academic hierarchy was similar to that present in places in Europe where
junior faculty had bosses that were also part of the academic regime. Speed’s boss was Oliver Kamm
who left to become research director at Parke Davis so Speed was promoted. During this time, interest
in chemistry was increasing so there was an increase in the number of graduate students in chemistry.
In the fall of 1920, one of Speed’s students was Wallace Carothers who went on to become one of the
fathers of polymer chemistry. By 1924, Carothers became part of the organic faculty. During this time,
there were evening seminars where the faculty discussed the latest trends and problems in chemistry. In
1927, Carothers left to join the Harvard faculty and eventually the DuPont Experimental Station.
In 1928, Speed became a consultant to the DuPont Experimental Station due to the nudging of

Roger Adams. Chemistry was on the rise with the invention of the first synthetic rubber (neoprene)

and first truly synthetic fiber (nylon) both discovered by Carothers. The plastics industry developed

rapidly with chemistry becoming truly an industrial giant, mainly on the back of giant molecules.
War broke out in Europe and it was obvious that America would become part of the confl ict.

The Office of Scientific Research and Development and the National Research and Development
Committee were established in late 1941. Various universities furnished the people for these agencies
and most university labs accepted contracts related to studying problems of interest to the Department
of Defense. Adams was important in this effort and so included Speed as a participant.
When Japan attacked Hawaii in December 1941, the most critical chemical problem was the
solution to the rubber shortage because the far Eastern suppliers were cut off. Because Speed had
“become” a polymer chemist during the years of 1930–1940, he became part of this rubber pro-
gram. The major rubber companies, many universities, and other chemical companies put aside
their competition and pooled their research efforts and in about 1 year’s time developed a usable SR
that was manufactured and used in smaller types of tires.
Speed helped organize, before the war years, a rubber program on the synthesis of rubber for
the National Defense Research Committee under Adams, which was eventually responsible for the
production of rubber during the war. He was also drafted and helped on a research program for the
Committee on Medical Research dealing with malaria research.
In the 1950s, Speed was part of a large effort headed out of Wright Patterson Air Force Base aimed
at developing thermally stable materials for a number of purposes, including use for outer space craft.
This effort acted as an early focal point for the synthesis of metal-containing polymers. These metal-
containing polymers lost out to the honey combed ceramic tiles now used on our space craft.
By 1953, Karl Ziegler and Giuilo Natta discovered a family of catalysts that allowed the intro-
duction of monomer units onto growing polymer chains in an ordered manner. This allowed the syn-
thesis of rubber-like polymers with greater strength and chemical stability in comparison to similar
polymers made without the use of these steroregulating catalysts.

9.10 NATURALLY OCCURRING POLYISOPRENES
Polyisoprenes occur in nature as hard plastics called gutta percha and balata and as an elastomer
or rubber known as H. brasiliensis or NR. Approximately 50% of the 500 tons of gutta percha
produced annually is produced from trees grown on plantations in Java and Malaya. Balata and
about 50% of the gutta percha used are obtained from trees in the jungles of South America and the
East Indies. The first gutta-insulated submarine cable was installed between England and France

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