Patsy O'Connell Sherman

Patsy O'Connell Sherman was an American chemist who co-invented Scotchgard, the stain and water repellent sold by 3M. Born in Minneapolis in 1930, she studied chemistry and mathematics at Gustavus Adolphus College and joined 3M in 1952. She and her colleague Samuel Smith were originally assigned to develop a fluorochemical rubber for jet fuel hoses; when a sample spilled on an assistant's shoe and could not be cleaned off, she recognised that the material repelled oil, water and solvents. The pair received a patent in 1971 for block and graft copolymers, and she holds thirteen patents with Smith in fluorochemical polymers. She was the first woman named to 3M's Carlton Society, later became a laboratory manager and built the company's technical education department, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001. She retired in 1992 and died in 2008.