Steven Kistler

Samuel Stephens Kistler
Samuel Stephens Kistler
Born	March 26, 1900
Died	November 6, 1975 (aged 75)
Nationality	Inventor of aerogels

Samuel Stephens Kistler (March 26, 1900 – November 6, 1975) was an American

inventor of aerogels, one of the lightest known solid

materials.

Biography

Kistler, the son of a shopkeeper, was born in the small town of

University of Illinois

.

Invention

The exact circumstances of the creation of the first aerogels are not well recorded. A popular story is that they resulted from a competition between Kistler and one Charles Learned "to see if they could replace the liquid inside of a jelly jar without causing any shrinkage".[2] Whether these experiments were performed at the College of the Pacific, still with limited facilities following the move in 1923 to the new Stockton campus, or at Stanford, where Kistler began pursuing a doctorate in 1927, is a source of some confusion. Either way, in 1931 Kistler published a paper in Nature (vol. 127, p. 741) titled "Coherent Expanded Aerogels and Jellies".

He left his teaching post at the

silica aerogel products under the trademark Santocel. Largely used as a flattening agent in paints and for similar uses, the line was discontinued by Monsanto in 1970, probably due to the high cost of manufacture and competition from newer products. Kistler had returned to teaching, however, taking up a position as Dean of the University of Utah College of Engineering

in 1952.

Death

He died in Salt Lake City in November 1975, shortly before the resurgence of interest in aerogels caused by the discovery of a less time-consuming method of manufacture by researchers led by Stanislaus Teichner in France.

References

^ Ayers, Michael (May 2000). "From the High Desert". The Pioneer: Samuel Kistler. E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
^ Stone, Mike (1999). "Aerogel FAQs". Archived from the original on 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2010-04-04.

[From_the_High_Desert-1] Ayers, Michael (May 2000). "From the High Desert". The Pioneer: Samuel Kistler. E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2010-04-04.

[Aerogel_FAQs-2] Stone, Mike (1999). "Aerogel FAQs". Archived from the original on 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2010-04-04.