page_title: Charles Goodyear Medal
section_title: 1990s
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Goodyear Medal / Recipients / 1990s
context_page_description: The Charles Goodyear Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1941, the award is named after Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization, and consists of a gold medal, a framed certificate and prize money. The medal honors individuals for "outstanding invention, innovation, or development which has resulted in a significant change or contribution to the nature of the rubber industry". Awardees give a lecture at an ACS Rubber Division meeting, and publish a review of their work in the society's scientific journal Rubber Chemistry and Technology.
context_section_description: 1990 Alan N. Gent - University of Akron professor who contributed to understanding adhesion physics, and fracture of rubbery, crystalline and glassy polymers
  1991 Edwin J. Vandenberg - chemist at Hercules Inc. known for discovery of isotactic polypropylene and the development of Ziegler-type catalysts
  1992 Ronald S. Rivlin - MRPRA physicist and developer of finite elasticity theory for elastomers
  1993 Leo Mandelkern - Florida State University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, pioneered understanding of crystallization in polymers
  1994 Alan G. Thomas - MRPRA physicist and developer of fracture mechanics theory for elastomers
  1995 Aubert Y. Coran - Monsanto researcher responsible for invention of thermoplastic elastomer Geolast
  1996 Siegfried Wolff - Degussa scientist who first recognized the potential for using silica in tire treads to reduce rolling resistance
  1997 Adel F. Halasa - Goodyear scientist who developed a terpolymer rubber of styrene, isoprene and butadiene (SIBR) that was used in the Aquatred tire
  1998 Jean-Baptiste Donnet - CNRS pioneer in surface chemistry of carbon black
  1999 James E. Mark - University of Cincinnati pioneer in molecular dynamics computer simulations of rubber elasticity
caption: Time–temperature superposition of the viscoelastic response of rubber underlies much of rubber's mechanical behavior. Goodyear medalists contributing to understanding rubber's mechanical properties include: Melvin Mooney, Norman Bekkedahl, John D. Ferry, Samuel D. Gehman, Adolf Schallamach, Leonard Mullins, Alan N. Gent, Ronald S. Rivlin, Alan G. Thomas, Graham J. Lake, Robert F. Landel, Karl A. Grosch, Alan D. Roberts, and C. Michael Roland.