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Herty, Charles Holmes

Charles Herty
Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Industrial AdvancesEra: 1930sDateCreated: 1932Herty Advanced Materials Development CenterSavannahState: GACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/savannahpaper.htmlCreator: Herty, Charles Holmes

When Georgia chemist Charles Holmes Herty found a way to make quality paper from pine trees in 1932, he also founded an industry that brought much-needed jobs to the depression-crippled south. Paper producers had deemed the plentiful pine too gummy—until Herty's Savannah Pulp and Paper Laboratory wrote a new chapter in the ancient craft inspired by insects who built paper nests while dinosaurs roamed the earth. At its root, however, the papermaking process remained the same: the bonding of cellulose, a polymer whose long chains support plant cell walls.

YearAdded:
2001
Image Credit: Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress. Image Caption: Portrait of Charles Holmes Herty in 1925.
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Charles Herty

When Georgia chemist Charles Holmes Herty found a way to make quality paper from pine trees in 1932, he also founded an industry that brought much-needed jobs to the depression-crippled south. Paper producers had deemed the plentiful pine too gummy—until Herty's Savannah Pulp and Paper…

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