The founder was a student of Antoine Lavoisier, the famous French chemist and was brought up in a French government powder plant; he turned to the same trade in America when he had become a political emigrant.
Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. President, encouraged the company founder, E. I. du Pont, to manufacture gunpowder since the United States at that time did not have reliable producers of high-quality powder, and perhaps because du Pont’s father had assured Jefferson that du Pont gunpowder would ‘‘send bullets a fifth farther than English or Dutch bullets travel.
At this time, America needed quality black powder and E.I. du Pont organized an efficient means to supply that need.
E. I. du Pont selected a location along the Brandywine River in Delaware for the first gunpowder mills. The river provided water power for the mills, local granite could be used for construction, and the local port in Wilmington could be used for shipping.
In July 1902, the company established two laboratories, the Eastern Lab and the Experimental Station, reflecting an increasing commitment to research. The Eastern Laboratory was the first industrial chemical research lab established in the United States. The opening of the Experimental Station helped define the company's dual approach to research: applied research aimed directly at new or improved products.
In the 1930s a DuPont scientist accidentally created a substance that would later be known as Teflon®, when experimenting with refrigerants. DuPont would go on to manufacture Teflon with the help of a chemical known as PFOA, or C8, used to smooth out lumps in the Teflon products.
On August 31, 2017, it merged with the Dow Chemical Company to create DowDuPont. DuPont continues to operate as a subsidiary.
History of DuPont
