FLORY, PAUL J.

born June 19, 1910, Sterling, Ill., U.S. died Sept. 9, 1985, Big Sur, Calif. in full Paul John Flory American physical chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1974 for his investigations of synthetic and natural macromolecules. Flory attended Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind., and Ohio State University (Ph.D., 1934). Thereafter he worked at the University of Cincinnati, Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Standard Oil Development Company, and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. His scientific activities ranged from research and development that led to the introduction of commercially successful polymers (nylon and synthetic rubber) to studies of processes by which polymers form and of their properties in bulk and in solution. His research demonstrated the importance of understanding the sizes and shapes of these flexible molecules in establishing relationships between their chemical structures and their physical properties. From 1961 to 1976 he was a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, becoming emeritus in 1976.