28 February: Nylon

On this date in 1935, Nylon was discovered by Dr Wallace H Carothers. 10 things you might not know about nylon:

1. Some say that the word nylon was coined from New York and London, because neither group of scientists could have invented it without the other, because the temperatures in their labs were different and a combination of different temperatures was needed. This, however, is a myth. The name derived from “no-run”, an earlier proposed name. Anyone who’s ever worn nylon stockings will know nylon isn’t actually run proof, so it was proposed to call it “nuron” instead (No-run backwards). Only this sounded like a nerve tonic. Changing a couple of the letters they eventually came up with nylon.
2. Other names considered were “klis” (silk backwards, since it was an alternative to silk) and “Duparooh,” an acronym for “DuPont (the company which made it) Pulls A Rabbit Out Of a Hat.”
3. Wallace H Carothers was the lead chemist at DuPont, who’d been headhunted away from Harvard with an offer of twice the salary. He was a brilliant chemist, also responsible for neoprene, the first commercially successful artificial rubber. He lived for some time in a house share with three other single men which was dubbed “Whiskey Acres” because they liked to drink and party. Carothers had a long term affair with a married woman before eventually marrying a DuPont co-worker 15 years his junior. He suffered from severe depression, though, and used to carry a capsule of cyanide on his watch chain, so he could end it all when he chose. He suffered self doubt about his work and then his sister died which sent him into a downward spiral that not even his wife’s pregnancy announcement could pull him out of. Before nylon had even been made available commercially, he took himself off to a hotel and drank his cyanide with Lemon juice, which, as a chemist, he knew would make it work faster. He was just 41, and never even saw his daughter, born later that year.
4. The first product DuPont made from nylon was bristles for Toothbrushes.
5. Perhaps the most popular in the late 1930s was ladies’ stockings. The fabric was first introduced to the world at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and stockings went on sale the next year. DuPont sold four million pairs of nylon stockings in the first two days.
6. However, a couple of years later, DuPont stopped making stockings when the US entered the second world war, so all its manufacturing capability was channelled into production for military gear, including parachutes, tents, ropes and hammocks and you couldn’t get stockings for love nor money. Just over a week after the end of the war, DuPont announced it would again produce nylon for stockings. Customers had missed nylon stockings so much that department stores saw “Nylon Riots,” with customers clawing and fighting for their hosiery.
7. The American flag that was planted on the Moon is made from nylon.
8. Kevlar, the stuff bullet proof vests are made from, is also a type of nylon.
9. Nylon is strong, tough, elastic, lightweight, and doesn’t attract Moths, mould or fungi; but it’s not good for the environment. Nylon takes hundreds of years to decompose, and as it does, it releases toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases. Large quantities of Water are used to produce nylon. The textile industry is responsible for 17-20% of the world's waste water.
10. There is a band called The Nylons. They are a Canadian male acappella group, who chose the name as a tongue-in-cheek fabricated tribute to the 1960s girl group, the Chiffons.

Character birthday

Willow, real name Melissa Honey. Her full code name is Will o’ the Wisp due to her ability to turn into mist, but this has been shortened by her Freedom League team mates to Willow. She can also repulse attackers. She is known for being into crystals and energy and other “New Age” ideas, having lived in Glastonbury for a while. Her story is told in The Power of Love.

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

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