Space Technology Hall of Fame
Induction Year 1991
PMR-15 Polymide Resin
Inducted In:
1991, Industrial Productivity/Manufacturing Technology
During the 1960s, research on protective coating materials at NASA’s Lewis Research Center demonstrated that a class of polymers known as condensation polymides could be fabricated into lightweight fiber reinforced plastics. These materials were capable of withstanding temperatures up to 6000 F for thousands of hours but were not initially easily utilized. Lewis researchers, led…
Automatic Implantable Cardiovertor Defibrillator
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) takes the lives of nearly a half million Americans each year. Some 80 percent die before medical help arrives and those who survive have faced a two-year heart attack recurrence rate as high as 55 percent. The Automatic Implantable Cardiovertor Defibrillator (AICD) gave new hope to these victims by lowering the…