Charles Milton Altland Stine (18 October 1882 – 28 May 1954) was a chemist and a vice-president of

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

who created the laboratory from which

nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...

and other significant inventions were made. He was also a devout Christian who authored a book about religion and science. Stine was born in Norwich, Connecticut to Lutheran clergyman Milton Henry Stine and his wife Mary Jane Altland. He received his BS and MS degrees from Gettysburg college and then received a Ph.D. from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1907, Stine began work in DuPont's research laboratories on a project to make explosives safer to handle. With C.C. Ahlum, he used

sodium sulfite Sodium sulfite (sodium sulphite) is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula Na2 SO3. A white, water-soluble solid, it is used commercially as an antioxidant and preservative. A heptahydrate is also known but it is less useful because of ...

as a purifying agent to crystallize trinitrotoluol (

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

). After studying the leakage of liquid components from

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

, Stine was able to develop a more stable version of the explosive for use in mining. He developed improved methods for manufacture of

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is ...

, extraction of

tetryl 2,4,6-Trinitrophenylmethylnitramine commonly referred to as tetryl ( C7 H5 N5 O8) is an explosive compound used to make detonators and explosive booster charges. Tetryl is a nitramine booster explosive, though its use has been largely superseded ...

from

dimethylaniline ''N'',''N''-Dimethylaniline (DMA) is an organic chemical compound, a substituted derivative of aniline. It consists of a tertiary amine, featuring dimethylamino group attached to a phenyl group. This oily liquid is colourless when pure, but comm ...

picric acid Picric acid is an organic compound with the formula (O2N)3C6H2OH. Its IUPAC name is 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). The name "picric" comes from el, πικρός (''pikros''), meaning "bitter", due to its bitter taste. It is one of the most acidic ...

from

chlorobenzene Chlorobenzene is an aromatic organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5Cl. This colorless, flammable liquid is a common solvent and a widely used intermediate in the manufacture of other chemicals. Uses Historical The major use of chlorob ...

, and for chlorinating benzene. During the 1920s, synthetic resins were developed in his laboratories, and improved processes were found for manufacturing

nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...

and

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

. After becoming director of DuPont's Chemicals Department in 1924, Dr. Stine was able to hire Dr.

Wallace Carothers Wallace Hume Carothers (; April 27, 1896 – April 29, 1937) was an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, who was credited with the invention of nylon. Carothers was a group leader at the DuPont Experiment ...

away from teaching at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Stine lobbied DuPont management for a budget exclusively devoted to speculative research. In 1930, he succeeded in obtaining a $300,000 annual allocation, and focused with Carothers on colloid chemistry and the development of polymers. Outcomes of the long range research included a synthetic, chloroprene rubber, but the most notable invention came in 1938 with the invention of

. Among his awards were the

Perkin Medal The Perkin Medal is an award given annually by the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) to a scientist residing in America for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development." It is considered the ...

in 1940 and the Lavoisier Medal for Technical Achievement in 1997. The Charles M.A. Stine Award of the

AIChE The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineers ...

is awarded annually by their Materials Engineering and Sciences Division.MESD C.S. Stine Award
/ref> DuPont's Stine Laboratory in

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington. According to the 2010 United States Census, ...

, is named in his honor. The son of a minister, Stine also wrote a book about his faith and his work as a scientist, entitled ''A Chemist and His Bible'', published in 1943. Stine died in 1954 at Wilmington, Delaware, aged 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stine, Charles 1882 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American chemists Johns Hopkins University alumni DuPont people