Dr. S. Donald Stookey is a Magna Cum
Laude graduate from Coe in 1936. After graduating from Coe
he went on to earn his Master’s degree from Lafayette College and then
his Doctorate in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
In 1940 he joined the research staff of
Corning Class Works in Corning, New York. While working for
Corning Class Works, Stookey developed a remarkable glass that would
forever change cooking. This glass is known as Corning
Ware. This glass allows you to bake a casserole and freeze the
leftovers in the same dish. Corning Ware is also used for making
all sorts of dish ware and for making stove tops.
Besides Corning Ware, Stookey has
developed numerous types of glass. He invented a heat
resistant glass used in missile nose cones. He also invented opal
glass, photo-sensitive glass, and photo-chromic glass that darkens in
sunlight. Even the United Nations building benefits from his
glass inventions. The north wall of the UN building is made from
photo-sensitive opal glass. The glass was made in a translucent
marble pattern so that in the daylight it matches the building’s marble
columns.
Stookey's research has not gone
unrewarded. He has been the recipient of just about every award
in his field. Prior to 1975 he had already earned 44
patents. In 1986, a retired Stookey earned a National Medal of
Technology in recognition for his inventions of Pyroceram
glass-ceramics, opal glass, and photo-sensitive glass. He
has received the Coe College Alumni Award of Merit, an honorary Doctor
of Science degree, and is an alumni member of Coe’s Phi Beta Kappa
chapter.
The glass industry and the world will
continue to benefit from Dr. S. Donald Stookey's glass research and his
inventions for years to come.
Information from "Profiles in Ceramics:
S. Donald Stookey" by Kathy L. Woodard in The American Ceramic
Society Bulletin (March 2000), 34-39.
Image of looking at the nature of a
crystal ball rather just looking through a ball to see into the
future. That’s what Stookey has done.
Wrote or co-authored nearly 30 papers
from ‘39 to ‘80. More than 60 patents held by him or jointly with
others. His autobiography: “Journey to the Center of the Crystal
Ball” was published by the American Ceramic Society in ‘85.
Eldest of four children; born on 23 May
‘15 in Hay Springs, Neb. To Stanley and Hermie Stookey. On
mother’s side, family roots back to first governor of Plymouth colony.
Economic problems; family moves to
Cedar Rapids when Stookey is six years old. His grandfather,
Stephen Stookey, professor of botany and geology at Coe. Father
sold real estate but never earned much money. Father an avid and
skilled outdoorsman. “He was always impressed, and perhaps
somewhat intimidated, by his grandfather. ‘He was the typical
red-headed, hot-tempered man. He was dean of the college, taught
geology and botany, and I had a lot of respect for him. I was
impressed by how much he enjoyed family picnics because he knew all
about the rocks and plants.” Stookey regretted that he never took
a class from his grandfather, who retired at the end of Donald’s
freshman year. “I was afraid to take his geology course, which I
later regretted. But I was afraid he would be too tough or too
easy.” But influenced by his grandfather to work in
education. “In 1931, armed with a small $100 a semester
scholarship and supported by his own wages spent working at the
college, painting and washing walls during the summer, Stookey sailed
through the next four years at Coe College, graduating magna cum laude
with a liberal arts degree in 1936.” Major in chemistry, one of
his toughest courses.
In 1937-38 he
was at Lafayette College for one year, earning a master’s. He
then went to MIT, worked hard, and earned a doctorate in physical
chemistry in 1940. Very little money. He was offered a job
at Corning Glass Works, though he knew little about glass.
“‘Glass chemistry research had barely started. My main objective
was to be a pioneer, discover new things, produce things that had never
been seen before. I was lucky enough to have that happen.’”
“‘I am most
proud of opening up a whole new field of science–the nucleation of
crystallization of glass–that produced all kinds of new crystalline
products with so many different useful properties.’”
FotoForm®
glass - one of his earliest major innovations. “It was a
significant realization of how glass could be photochemically etched
into precise and detailed structures.” Still used in computer and
communications technology. While doing further experiments, some
FotoForm glass was mistakenly heated to 9000 C; new
crystalline material was harder, stronger and higher in electrical
resistivity. The result was the first glass-ceramic,
Fotoceram®. “He suddenly realized that, in theory at least,
all glass compositions could be altered to polycrystalline ceramics by
a nucleation and reheating process.” Thus the development of a
glass-ceramic that could be used in nose cones of supersonic radomes in
guided missiles.
Another major
invention, Corning-Ware® was first marketed in 1958, only one year
after Stookey’s discovery. This would in turn lead to the
development of VisionWare® transparent cookware, patented in ‘66.
Working with
William Armistead at Corning, Stookey helped discover photochronic
glass, used to make ophthalmic lenses that darken and fade with the
environment, first introduced over 30 years ago.
Some of
Stookey’s favorite projects have so far never attained commercial
viability, “including photosensitive gold and polychromatic glasses in
which permanent, beautifully colored photographs can be produced.”
On working
with Armistead at Corning: “it was a ‘good opportunity for me to
continuously discover things that had never been seen before, to
develop a new field of high-temperature chemistry in glass, and to
produce beautiful products.’”
Married Ruth in 1940. 3 children,
six grandchildren. Both wife and daughter have died.
Loved the outdoors. Had a cabin
cruiser for 30 years; have fished all over the world.
Ruth had a B.A. in mathematics; taught
math & history of 1 ½ years before marriage in 1940.
Other sources of info:
From Corning press release (‘82):
“Throughout his 42-year association with Corning, Dr. Stookey has
concentrated primarily on the development of new glass compositions and
processes. These include Pyroceram brand glass ceramics,
thermometer opal glasses, photosensitive glasses, photochromic glass,
hydrosilicate glasses and hydroceramics, and full-color polychromatic
photosensitive glasses.
From a ltr by Stookey to Pres. Nussbaum
after visit on campus: “Perhaps the most surprising change from my day
to this was the evident cameraderie [sic] and confidence and friendship
between the science students and faculty. In the old days the
buildings were old and gloomy, we students stood in fear and awe of the
science profs. I was glad to see that an active interest exists
in making students aware of career possibilities in industry, as well
as in academia and medicine.”
Received Coe’s Founders’ Medal in 1980,
Coe’s highest honor for individuals of international reputation.
Only two previous recipients: Shirer & Engle. Stookey
received his at the same time as Dr. F. Gaynor Evans (‘31), Professor
Emeritus, Dept. of Anatomy, University of Michigan Medical School.
Memo by Nussbaum written after a visit
with Stookey at his home in NY. Evident that Stookey was really
pleased with the award. Said he enjoyed playing pool, though he
has a handicap: almost total blindness in an eye since age 3. “He
is shy, socially reticent, and to a large extent self-effacing.
While he has in sequence owned several expensive yachts–all sold
now–his standard of living and house as well as furnishings belie his
affluent salary.”
Donald graduated from Coe in ‘36,
having done an honors thesis with Ben Peterson; his brother David
graduated in ‘37 with honors in oratory and debate and went on to law
school at Cornell. Donald graduated from M.I.T in June 1940, 5
days after his brother completed his law degree.
From a newspaper article in alumni
files: no date: “Shortly after Dr. Stookey developed the
[photosensitive] glass, the treasury department, which then was looking
for wartime substitutes for metal coins, inspected samples of
photographic glass coins, and was prepared to authorize their
manufacture. ¶ The enormous quantities of coins immediately
required was beyond Corning’s capacity, however, so glass money was not
produced.”
Notes from “The Fabulous Glass Child”
by John Lear in the Saturday Review (1 June ‘57)
Describes a scene when this new glass
product, pyroceram, very hot, is used for hammering a nail.
Characteristics of pyroceram: harder than steel, light as aluminum,
strong than stainless steel, softening temperature close to the melting
point of iron, can hold a weight of 40,000 pounds per square inch,
resists corrosion by powerful acids, purity of electrical insulation
(through it one can “transmit ultra-high-frequency radio signals with
flawless accuracy in all directions equally.”
Lear describes
the process that was followed as Stookey attempted to answer a question
that had been posed to him by one of his co-workers at Corning: “How do
you drill a million holes in a one inch square of glass.” The
question involved the development of a new tv screen. Stookey had
already developed a technique for making glass pictures. He new
“there was a physical difference between the crystalline and
non-crystalline areas; they had different densities; they expanded and
contracted to different degrees when they were heated; perhaps there
was a chemical difference, too. Dr. Stookey turned to the acid
bottles on his laboratory shelf. He tried hydrofluoric. It
dissolved the crystals 100,000 times faster than the unexposed
glass. There were the holes Dr. Littleton wanted! All that
was need to drill them was a photographic plate with thousands of dots
side by side. Expose the plate to the light, and pour on the acid!
“Then came the
accident. A piece of this photo-formed stuff (which by
coincidence is called fotoform) was left in the laboratory oven too
long one night in 1949. The oven heat was turned up 300 degrees
higher than it should have been–to 900 degrees C. instead of 600
degrees C. Dr. Stookey was annoyed, as any scientist is when such
things happen. He grabbed the overbaked specimen impatiently, and
it fell to the floor. Dr. Stookey watched it go, and graced
himself for the shatter. But the stuff only bounced a little when
it hit.
“Why didn’t it
break? Dr. Stookey didn’t sleep well that night. ‘I guess I
was too ashamed to write a report,’ he says now. ‘It was a bad
job.’ But why didn’t the stuff break?
“Instead of
merely wondering, without knowing exactly how long the baking had
lasted or at what temperatures during what periods of time, he began a
meticulous series of repetitions of the accident under one set of
conditions after another.” He discovered that he had a new
crystalline substance, “starting with glass but sowing within it
billions of crystals, he was able to so manipulate two supposedly
simple processes of heating and cooling as to end with a complete and
total contradiction of the very meaning of glass.”
Corning has at
least a thousand different formulae for pyrocerams. Most are
opaque but some are transparent; they look exactly like glass but
crystals are so small that they reflect no light. Stookey
studying the “kinetics of crystal growth in liquids. “Through
years of patient experiment, he has learned how to initiate crystal
nucleation at will, to control the number of crystals, to stop the
growth whenever he wishes from the instant it begins with single
atoms.” This free, original research was possible because of
Corning’s support of such research. Stookey reflects: “We aren’t
prima donnas, but the company does excuse us from worrying about daily
production problems.”
Article by Stookey in the C & EN
(19 June ‘61) explains the pyroceram process; indicates that Corning
Ware is the cooking ware version of this product.
Position at Corning: Director of
Fundamental Research
From The Glass Industry, Jan
‘64: Stookey’s first work at Corning was with opal glass.
His first assignment: to build a furnace with an optical system for
determining the temperatures at which opal glass crystallizes.
Stookey described himself as “starting out completely ignorant of glass
in every way.” But he had curiosity, and a methodical habit of
sticking with problems until they were solved. As he worked he
realized that glass “‘is probably the most perfect material for
studying the beginning of crystallization and the formation of the
smallest aggregates of atoms.
“He is perhaps most proud of the
photosensitive opal glass in the north wall of the UN building, made in
a translucent marble pattern so that the outside matches the marble
columns in the daylight.”
“During the early years of World War
II, there was such a shortage of copper for making pennies that a
substitute was in order. There was serious talk at the time about
photosensitive glass discs having the same diameter as pennies, but a
little thicker. The profile of Lincoln would have appeared within
the glass in copper ruby color; the perimeter would have been
transparent. The idea was scrapped–each penny would have cost 25
cents. Zinc was used instead.
Co-worker Harrison Hood describing
Stookey: “Stookey is an excellent research man with a breadth of
interest for delving into many unusual things–such as the behavior of
glasses with unusual compositions. He has a high research
intuition, a feeling for what is apt to be significant, a knack for
knowing where to look. . . . he has proven that he can run onto more
things with few experiments, than most men can with many
experiments.”
“When Stookey
worked with me, it was a case of playing basketball with ideas. I
would catch the ball from him and then toss it back to him, and he
would carry it through to accomplishment.”
Coe Awards:
1955 - Distinguished Alumni Award;
given by Ben Peterson who refers to Stookey as “one of my own Boys”
1963 - Honorary Doctorate
Honors and Milestones for Stookey
1950 - First of 58 U.S. Patents,
#2.515.937 for “photosensitive Gold Glass and Method of Making It”
1953 - John Price Wetherill Award,
Franklin Institute (awarded again in 1962)
1960 - Ross Coffin Purdy Award,
American Ceramic Society
1964 - Toledo Glass and Ceramic Award
1970 - Inventor of the Year, George
Washington University
1975 - Phoenix Award of the Glass
Industry
1986 - Recipient from President Reagan
of a National Medal of Science and Technology
