DuPont honors scientists

WILMINGTON, Del. (April 10)—DuPont Co. has honored four scientists—including specialty elastomer researcher Rudolph Parisier—with the Lavoisier Medal of Achievement, the company's highest level of achievement. Parisier, who was involved in the development of DuPont's Hytrel, Vamac, Kalrez and Viton specialty elastomers, was singled out for his "seminal contributions in the arena of polymer chemistry," DuPont said. Other recipients are: Richard Rees, inventor of Surlyn ionomer resins; Rolando Pagilagan, whose efforts broadly impacted the engineering polymers industry; and L. John Hoffbeck, a prolific corn breeder at Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., a DuPont subsidiary. Parisier's major scientific accomplishment was clarifying with collaborators the connection between structure and spectra of pi-systems, relationships that were critical to DuPont businesses. The work remains a landmark in the understanding of conjugated molecules. Parisier retired from DuPont in 1988.