Carl Shipp Marvel

Carl Shipp "Speed" Marvel (September 11, 1894 – January 4, 1988) was an American chemist who specialized in polymer chemistry. He made important contributions to U.S. synthetic rubber program during World War II, and later worked at developing polybenzimidazoles, temperature-resistant polymers that are used in the aerospace industry, in fire-fighting equipment, and as a replacement for asbestos. He has been described as "one of the world's outstanding organic chemists" and received numerous awards, including the 1956 Priestley Medal and the 1986 National Medal of Science, presented by President Ronald Reagan.

Early life and education Carl Shipp Marvel was born on September 11, 1894, in Waynesville, Illinois, U.S., to farmers John Thomas Marvel and Mary Lucy Wasson Marvel. An uncle urged him to study chemistry. Marvel attended Illinois Wesleyan University from 1911 to 1915. He graduated with an A.B. and M.S. in chemistry. Students were required to take careful notebook records of each preparation, including the cost of chemicals, apparatus, and the time needed. Marvel was known for his ability to modify poor procedures to make them more effective, and to describe procedures so that others could follow them. Many of these laboratory procedures were later published, first as pamphlets on Organic Chemical Reagents, by Roger Adams, O. Kamm, and C. S. Marvel, and later in the journal Organic Syntheses. He was initiated into Alpha Chi Sigma at the Zeta chapter, University of Illinois, in 1918.

In 1919, Marvel returned to graduate study full-time, supported by a fellowship from DuPont. Approximately 20% of the 264 preparations in Collective Volume I of Organic Syntheses were either written or checked by Marvel.

He soon moved into polymer chemistry, again working on synthesis methods and structure determination. Using techniques such as determinations of elemental analysis, average molecular weight, end-group analysis, and examination of products, Marvel demonstrated a chemical methodology for establishing the principal structural features of polymers.

DuPont Central Research In 1928, Marvel was recommended by Roger Adams as a consultant for DuPont Central Research. Marvel also consulted with Ray C. Houtz, when Houtz was developing a synthetic fiber made from polyacrylonitrile, Orlon.

United States Rubber Reserve Marvel participated heavily in the U.S. synthetic rubber program when supplies of natural rubber were disrupted during World War II. The availability of rubber was essential to the war effort. Beginning in September 1940, Marvel worked with Section C-2, Synthetic Problems, of Division B of the National Defense Research Committee. His work at Illinois on the low-temperature copolymerization of butadiene and styrene was important to the successful commercial production of synthetic rubber. With their new process, polymerization could be completed in only seven hours.

As a result of his wartime work, Marvel received the President's Certificate of Merit for Civilians in World War II.

Teaching Marvel is credited, with Roger Adams and Reynold C. Fuson, with making the organic chemistry program at Illinois "preeminent in the United States". As an instructor, Marvel saw the importance of working on essential problems. Marvel supervised 176 successful doctoral students, and at least 150 postdoctoral students during his career. His students included H. E. Carter, Wallace Carothers, George Graves, William J. Sparks, and future Nobel Laureates Vincent du Vigneaud

In 1961 Marvel formally "retired" from Illinois, but continued to be a research professor Emeritus from 1961 to 1988. In 1963, he was awarded an Honorary D. Sc. degree from the University of Illinois. At Arizona, Marvel continued work which he had begun at Illinois, the study of high temperature polymers.

High temperature polymers Marvel made important advances in the development of high temperature polymers, including polybenzimidazoles and ladder polymers, using techniques of polyaddition and cyclopolymerization.

Marvel was contacted by Wright Patterson Air Force Base in the 1950s, because the U.S. Air Force needed a material suitable for drogue parachutes. They needed a material that would retain its strength when subjected to extremely high temperatures. Researching high-temperature stable polymers, Marvel was the first to synthesize Polybenzimidazole (PBI), a condensation polymer with aromatic and heteroaromatic repeating units. He then worked with Herward Vogel, first at the University of Illinois and later at the University of Arizona, to improve the quality of the polymer and develop Polybenzimidazole fiber. Because of its thermal and oxidative stability PBI was adopted by NASA in the 1960s for use in aerospace and defense applications. In 1978, PBI began to be used in United States fire service equipment.

Marvel also proposed the development of "ladder molecules" (ladder polymers), next generation polymers that would be even more stable than polybenzimidazoles. Marvel had taken the first steps towards a process for creating ladder-type polymers as early as 1938, when he attempted the cyclization of poly(methyl vinyl ketone). In the 1950s, he outlined a precursor approach to the creation of poly(para-phenylene) (PPP), a particularly difficult process. Marvel's approach contained the key elements of solutions which would not be developed for another thirty years: chain-growth polymerization of a cyclohexadiene monomer, and its subsequent aromatization. His work is therefore considered "an important milestone in the history of PPP synthesis."

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he continued to work as a principal contributor to the U.S. Air Force program on high temperature polymer synthesis, including the synthesis of thermally stable ladder or partial ladder polypyrrolones. For his work Marvel was awarded a Distinguished Service Award (1966) by the U.S. Air Force Materials Laboratory and an Award for Outstanding Achievement (1966) by the Air Force Systems Command. Marvel Hall, a conference room in the American Chemical Society Building in Washington, D.C., is also named for him.

Publications

Dr. Marvel published nearly 500 articles in scientific journals worldwide, and four books including Introduction to the Organic Chemistry of High Polymers. He also held 52 patents. 1944 William H. Nichols Medal, American Chemical Society 1945 President of the American Chemical Society 1945 Elected to the American Philosophical Society 1950 Willard Gibbs Medal, American Chemical Society 1955 American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal 1956 Priestley Medal, American Chemical Society 1960 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1964 First recipient, ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry 1964 International Award, Society of Plastics Engineers 1965 Perkin Medal, American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry 1966 Distinguished Service Award, U.S. Air Force Materials Laboratory 1986 National Medal of Science, presented by President Ronald Reagan 1988 Inducted into the Alpha Chi Sigma Hall of Fame.

Family Carl Marvel married Alberta Hughes on December 26, 1933. They had two children, Mary Catharine (1935 - 2017) and John Thomas Marvel (1938 -2010). Carl Marvel died on January 4, 1988. John Thomas Marvel married Joyce Strand. They had three sons, Scott Thomas, Chris Andrew and Carl Randall Marvel. Scott Thomas Marvel has one daughter, Estelle Marvel. Carl Randall Marvel married Jennifer Price. They had two children, Christian Reed and Brooke Marie Marvel.