Charles Goodyear Medal

Recent Recipients

Professor Joseph P. Kennedy -- 2008

Professor Joseph P. Kennedy, Distinguished Professor of Polymer Science and Chemistry of The University of Akron, has contributed in many ways to both rubber science and rubber technology, particularly in the fields of carbocationic polymerization, rubbery biomaterials and macromolecular engineering.

Kennedy received the equivalent of a B.Sc. Chemistry from the University of Budapest in Hungary in 1948. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Vienna in Austria in 1954 and an M.B.A. in general business from Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, in 1961.

He started his career in industry as a research chemist at Cellanese in 1957 and moved to Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon), rising to the highest technical level (equivalent to VP) in Exxon Research. Even in industry, he published seminal papers on the mechanism and kinetics of butyl polymerization that are still in use today.

He became a professor at Akron in 1970, playing a fundamental role in the foundation and development of the College of Polymer Science & Polymer Engineering. His seminal academic work had crucial importance in the Department of Polymer Science, which is ranked as the #2 graduate academic program in polymer science in the nation.

Professor Kennedy has authored three books and 700 refereed publications in the top polymer journals. He is a founding co-editor of Polymer Bulletin and has served on numerous editorial boards. He has chaired two Gordon Conferences, and was chair of the 35th International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry symposium on macromolecules in 1994.

He has been issued 96 patents and numerous awards. He is the inventor of the polystyrene-polyisobutylene-polystyrene block copolymer TPE that is FDA approved as the polymeric coating on the Taxus Drug Eluting Stent. This rubber revolutionized interventional cardiology, and more than a million of the stents have been implanted since the 2004 FDA approval. His developments of versatile mechanisms for producing telechelic polymers, star polymers, dendrimers and amphiphilic networks are most noteworthy. Some of his awards include two American Chemical Society Awards, one in Polymer Chemistry (1985) and Applied Polymer Science (1995), and he was the recipient of the Rubber Division’s George S. Whitby Award in 1996 for excellence in teaching and research.

Professor Kennedy has trained more than 140 students and PDFs who have all been successful as industrial leaders or professors internationally. His mentorship is also unparalleled.

At 79 years young, he is still in his office every day, including Saturday, working on new rubbers he keeps inventing.

Dr. Karl-Alfred Grosch -- 2007

Dr. Grosch, is a pioneer in friction and wear phenomena. After finishing his degree course, Dr. Grosch became a Scientific Officer and started on an external PhD of London University under the supervision of Prof. D Tabor of Cambridge and L. R. G. Treloar of Manchester University. He became Senior and later Principal Scientific Officer, working further together with Dr. Schallamach. Dr. Grosch later joined the European Tire Development Center of Uniroyal in Germany as Tire Evaluation Manager. In 1974, he became Development Manager for Commercial Tires, until his retirement in 1988. He then worked as a free lance consultant for a number of rubber and tire producing firms and again took up research on friction and abrasion of rubber privately and developed the concept of the LAT 100 Laboratory Friction and Abrasion Test Equipment. Dr. Grosch also developed testing programs for the LAT 100 for wet traction, friction on ice, abrasion over a wide range of severities and rolling resistance and suitable software for the evaluation of results including road test simulations. He was awarded the Colwyn Medal of the British Institute of Materials. Dr. Grosch presented a number of papers at Rubber Division, ACS meetings and International Rubber Conferences. He also has had many papers published in Rubber Chemistry and Technology, in Proc Royal Soc. and other journals and wrote chapters on friction and abrasion in several books.

Past Recipients

  1. 2007 - Karl-Alfred Grosch - Rubber Friction and Abrasion in Relation to Tire Traction and Wear, RC&T 80 (3) 379
  2. 2006 - Robert F. Landel - A Two-Part Tale: The WLF Equation and Beyond Linear Viscoelasticity, RC&T 79 (3) 381
  3. 2003 - Graham J. Lake - Fracture Mechanics and its Application to Failure in Rubber Articles, RC&T Vol. 76 (3) 567
  4. 2001 - Yasuyuki Tanaka - Structural Characterization of Natural Polyisoprenes-Solve the Mystery of Natural Rubber Based on Structural Study, RC&T Vol. 74 (3) 355
  5. 2000 - Jack L. Koenig - Spectroscopic Characterization of the Molecular Structure of Elastomeric Networks, RC&T Vol. 73 (3) 385
  6. 1999 - James E. Mark - Improved Elastomers Through Control of Network Chain-Length Distributions, RC&T Vol. 72 (3) 465
  7. 1998 - Jean-Baptiste Donnet - Black and White Fillers and Tire Compound, RC&T Vol. 71 (3) 323
  8. 1997 - Adel F. Halasa - Preparation and Characterization of Solution SIBR Via Anionic Polymerization, RC&T Vol. 70 (3) 295
  9. 1996 - Siegfried Wolff - Chemical Aspects of Rubber Reinforcement by Fillers, RC&T Vol. 69 (3) 325
  10. 1995 - Aubert Y. Coran - Vulcanization: Conventional and Dynamic, RC&T Vol. 68 (3) 351
  11. 1994 - Alan G. Thomas - The Development of Fracture Mechanics for Elastomers, RC&T Vol. 67 (3) G50
  12. 1993 - Leo Mandelkern - The Role of Elastomers in the Study of Polymer Crystallization, RC&T Vol. 66 (3) G61
  13. 1992 - Ronald S. Rivlin - The Elasticity of Rubber, RC&T Vol. 65 (3) G51
  14. 1991 - Edwin J. Vandenberg - Reflections on the Past and Future of Polyether Elastomers and on Redox Emulsion Polymerization, RC&T Vol. 64 (3) G56
  15. 1990 - Alan N. Gent - Cavitation of Rubber: A Cautionary Tale, RC&T Vol. 63 (3) G49
  16. 1989 - Jean-Marie Massoubre - The Radial Tyre, A Peaceful Revolution, RC&T Vol. 62 (3) G83
  17. 1988 - Herman F. Mark - Elastomers: Past, Present, and Future, RC&T Vol. 61 (3) G73
  18. 1987 - Norman R. Legge - Thermoplastic Elastomers, RC&T Vol. 60 (3) G83
  19. 1986 - Leonard Mullins - Engineering with Rubber: Achievements and Problems, RC&T Vol. 59 (3) G69
  20. 1985 - Maurice Morton - Rubber Enters the Polymer Age, RC&T Vol. 58 (3) G75
  21. 1984 - Herman E. Schroeder - Facets of Innovation, RC&T Vol. 57 (3) G86
  22. 1983 - J. Reid Shelton - Oxidation and Stabilization of Rubbers, RC&T Vol. 56 (3) G67
  23. 1982 - Adolf Schallamach - What Happens Between Tire and Road, RC&T Vol. 55 (3) G70
  24. 1981 - John D. Ferry - Probing Macromolecular Motions through Viscoelasticity, RC&T Vol. 54 (3) G72
  25. 1980 - Samuel E. Horne, Jr. - Polymerization of Diene Monomers by Ziegler Type Catalysts, RC&T Vol. 53 (3) G68
  26. 1979 - Francis P. Baldwin - Modifications of Low Functionality Elastomers, RC&T Vol. 52 (3) G77
  27. 1978 - Frank Herzegh - The Evolution of the Tubeless Tire, RC&T Vol 51 (3) G72
  28. 1977 - James D. D'Ianni - Fun and Frustrations with Synthetic Rubber, RC&T Vol. 50 (3) G67
  29. 1976 - Earl Warrick - Silicone Rubber: A Perspective, RC&T Vol. 49 (4) 909
  30. 1975 - Otto Bayer - The Odyssey of an Invention, RC&T Vol. 48 (3) G73
  31. 1974 - Joe C. Krejci - The Evolution of Oil Furnace Blacks, RC&T Vol. 47 (2) G32
  32. 1973 - Arnold M. Collins - The Discovery of Polychloroprene, RC&T Vol. 46 (2) G45
  33. 1972 - Frederick W. Stavely - Lithium Polymerization Catalysts, RC&T Vol. 45 (4) G53
  34. 1971 - Harold J. Osterhof - Creativity in Rubber Industry Research, RC&T Vol. 44 (3) G45
  35. 1970 - Samuel D. Gehman - Physics Does It in Rubber Research, RC&T Vol. 43 (4) G82
  36. 1969 - Robert M. Thomas - Early History of Butyl Rubber, RC&T Vol. 42 (4) G90
  37. 1968 - Paul J. Flory - Molecular Interpretation of Rubber Elasticity, RC&T Vol. 41 (4) G41
  38. 1967 - N. Bekkedahl - Crystallization of Natural Rubber, RC&T Vol. 40 (3) G25
  39. 1966 - E. A. Murphy - Some Early Adventures with Latex, RC&T Vol. 39 (3) G73
  40. 1965 - B. S. Garvey - Rubber Chemistry: A Great Adventure, RC&T Vol. 38 (3) G11
  41. 1964 - A. E. Juve - On Testing Rubber, RC&T Vol. 37 (2) G24
  42. 1963 - W. J. Sparks - Functionality of Elastomers
  43. 1962 - Melvin Mooney - Some Neglected Problems in the Rheology of High Polymers, RC&T Vol. 35 (5) G27
  44. 1961 - H. A. Winklemann - Coatings for Rubber
  45. 1960 - W. B. Wiegand - Determinants in Research, RC&T Vol. 35 (4) xxiv
  46. 1959 - F. H. Banbury - People and the Banbury Mixer
  47. 1958 - J. C. Patrick - Comments on the Polysulfide Polymers
  48. 1957 - A. W. Carpenter - The Tower of Babel
  49. 1956 - S. M. Cadwell - Scientific Contributions to the Rubber Industry, Rubber Age 80 (10), 91
  50. 1955 - R. P. Dinsmore - Specifications for a Rubber Chemist, Rev. gen caout-chouc 33, 120
  51. 1954 - G. S. Whitby - Reflections on Rubber Research, Ind. Eng. Chem. 47, 806
  52. 1953 - J. T. Blake - The Future of Rubber, Chem. Eng. News 31, 4290
  53. 1952 - H. E. Simmons - Out of the Past
  54. 1951 - W. C. Geer - Strategy in Rubber Research, Ind. Eng. Chem. 43, 2436
  55. 1950 - C. C. Davis - Some of the Real Pioneers of the Rubber Industry, India Rubber World 123 (4), 433
  56. 1949 - H. L. Fisher - Rubber Research and the Need for a Rubber Research Institute in the United States
  57. 1948 - George Oenslager
  58. 1946 - Ira Williams - Vulcanization of Rubber with Sulfur, Ind. Eng. Chem. 39, 901
  59. 1944 - W. L. Semon - Research Leading to Commercial Butadien Synthetic Rubber, Chem. Eng. News, 24, 2900 (1946); India Rubber World 115, 364, 373
  60. 1942 - L. B. Sebrell - The Second Mile, Ind. Eng. Chem. 35, 736 (1943); RC&T Vol. 16, 713
  61. 1941 - David Spence

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