For more comprehensive information on plastics visit the Sandretto Plastics Museum in Italy. From the site’s home-page you can access an excellent History of Plastics section of the site.

Also see a what makes a plastic and their properties.

This page from provides a timeline for the invention and use of plastics.

Visit the Molecular Giants page, a well illustrated history of the discovery of polymers, both natural and synthetic; produced by the Chemical Heritage Society.

Kevlar is 20 times stronger than steel and is used in the manufacture of bullet proof vests. Follow a series of clues on well-illustrated pages on the different aspects of Kevlar to determine why the polymer has these properties. The material on this Berkeley Lab’s “Microworld” web site, which is designed for Grades 9-12, may prove difficult for some students.

Read about Kevlar’s many uses at DuPont’s Kevlar Home Page.

About.com provides information on various inventors. This page looks at the life and works of Wallace Carothers, the inventor of Nylon.

A short biography about Wallace Carothers is also available at PBS's Science Odyssey web sit.