S. Donald Stookey, the man responsible for creating the glass that made CorningWare famous, died Tuesday, after complications from hip surgery. He was 99.
During his work with Corning Glass Works, renamed Corning Inc. in 1989, Stookey also created photosensitive glass, now used in the United Nations headquarters, as well as photochromic glass that make eyeglasses darken when exposed to sunlight.
However, it was the glass Stookey created for cooking that he'll most be remembered for. And just like many great scientific discoveries, the invention of the glass came from an accident.
In 1957, Stookey left some photosensitive glass in a furnace heated up to over 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit by mistake. When he opened the oven, instead of finding melted glass, he found the plate intact. When he reached into the oven with tongs to remove the plate, he accidentally dropped it. Instead of breaking, the plate bounced on the floor.
"It crystallized so completely that it could not flow and was obviously much stronger than ordinary glass," Stookey once wrote.
After further testing, this glass earned the name of Pyroceram and eventually became a staple in kitchens everywhere. But because of how much heat the space-age material could withstand, along with its durability, it also found uses elsewhere, such as on the noses of guided missiles, as well as in the nuts and bolts of NASA's space shuttles.
To this day, CorningWare remains a staple in household kitchens for its unique ability to go from freezer to oven to refrigerator to microwave without shattering. Most American kitchens have at least one CorningWare dish sitting in a cabinet or on a shelf.
Stanley Donald Stookey was born on May 23, 1915, in Hay Springs, Neb. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and math from Coe College in Iowa, later earning his master's degree in chemistry from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. After he earned a doctorate in physical chemistry from MIT in 1940, he joined the Corning lab.
In 1986, Stookey received the National Medal of Technology. In 2010, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
"He was one of the great glass scientists in the history of the world," said Steve Feller, a physics professor at Coe College. "Virtually everyone has had CorningWare at some point in time, and there were all sorts of spin-off applications from his fantastic work."
