The Savior of The Cotton Industry
Cotton is the most popular natural fiber in the world. Without Ruth Rogan Benerito, this could not be possible.
Photo of Dr. Ruth Benerito
Written by Kate Buckridge
Benerito was born January 12, 1916. She grew up in New Orleans and was very impressive in her schooling. She finished highschool at the age of fourteen and went to H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College of Tulane University at the age of fifteen. Upon graduation, Benerito took night classes and worked. She took classes to get her masters degree in Chemistry at Tulane University where she was one of two women allowed to be in the Chemistry classes. During the day she worked, but the lack of jobs due to the Great Depression did not allow her to do any research, forcing her to instead teach highschool. She taught science, math, and drivers education in a school west of New Orleans. During World War ll, she taught college classes. Finally, she traveled to the University of Chicago and got her Ph. D in 1948.
Ruth married two years later, in 1950. Her husband, Frank Penchot Benerito fully supported Ruth and believed that women should have full control over their lives. He supported Ruth in her research and her work towards women's rights.
After her marriage, she began work in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Southern Regional Research Laboratories in New Orleans. This is where she worked for most of her career. Unrelated to her most known accomplishment of wrinkle resistant cotton, she found a way to give wounded soldiers necessary nutrients when they were too weak to eat, a method which became very well known and useful during the Korean War. Also with the USDA, the research team she led helped her discover a way to chemically change cotton to be wrinkle, flame, and stain resistant. The hydrogen bonds that held together the cotton molecules were easily broken and caused constant wrinkling in the fabric, making it impractical to wear. Benerito found a way to chemically join together the cotton cellulose – a form of sugar – molecules. The new cotton molecules had short organic molecules in between the cellulose molecules which did not break, similar to the hydrogen bonds which stopped the wrinkling. After this wrinkle resistant fabric was made, the stain and flame resistant properties were added.
Photo of Ruth Benerito in the lab.
These fabrics were a very important invention since it changed the normally long and labor-intensive chore of laundry. The cotton industry was suffering in the 1940s and 50s. Although cotton was more comfortable on skin, the wrinkles that cotton was prone to made nylon and polyester more popular. Further, these synthetic fibers were easy to take care of since they did not need ironing but it hurt the cotton industry. The new, less time consuming and comfortable cotton became very popular and saved the cotton industry that would have never survived without Benerito.
Benerito continued to teach classes at Tulane and the University of New Orleans until 1997. She continued her research on cotton fibers with USDA until 1986. She received numerous awards such as membership in the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Federal Women's Award, Southern Chemist Award, the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award for Invention and Innovation, and induction into the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service Science Hall of Fame in 2004; even more, she also earned the Garvan Medal for Distinguished Service to Chemistry by Women Chemists from the American Chemical Society and became the first woman to get the honor of the Southwest Regional Award from the American Chemical Society. Sadly, Ruth Benerito’s fruitful reign over the cotton industry ended in 2013, when Ruth was 97 years of age, when she unfortunately passed after a long life of fighting for her passion.
Sources
“Ruth Benerito.” Science History Institute, www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/ruth-benerito/.
“Tulane Online Exhibits.” Exhibits.tulane.edu, exhibits.tulane.edu/exhibit/tulanewomen/academicwomen/dr-ruth-rogan-benerito/.
