Ruth R. Benerito

Ruth Rogan Benerito (1916 to 2013) was an American chemist and inventor whose work on cellulose chemistry made wrinkle-free cotton possible. Born in New Orleans, she studied chemistry at Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University, took a master's degree in physics at Tulane and a doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Chicago in 1948. After teaching at Newcomb College she joined the United States Department of Agriculture Southern Regional Research Center in 1953 and stayed more than thirty years. Early there she developed a fat emulsion for intravenous feeding of long-term patients. Her best known work showed that bonding mono-basic acid chlorides to cellulose stopped cotton fibers from creasing, a crosslinking method that let cotton compete with nylon and spandex as a wash and wear fabric. She stressed that a team had contributed to the processes. In 1959 she became research leader of the Natural Polymers Division, a post she held until she retired in 1986, and she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008.