Inventors & Innovators: R. Games Slayter

Purdue graduates continue to develop innovations and breakthroughs that help move the world forward. Purdue Today will highlight these inventors and innovators by featuring two each month in the Purdue Today newsletter and on social media.

A one-time tuba player in Purdue University's "All-American" Marching Band is credited with the development of Fiberglas, the world's first commercial fiberglass product.

R. Games Slayter, an Indiana native, graduated from Purdue with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1921. In the early part of his career, he worked at Owens-Illinois Glass Co. in Toledo, Ohio. It was there that he first created the coarse fibers that led to the production of Fiberglas.

Slayter continued his work in 1938 as vice president of research and development, refining Fiberglas' production process to make it financially viable. He remained with the company, which merged to become Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., amassing more than 90 patents in fiberglass technology before retiring in the 1960s. Slayter even served as a consultant for NASA before the end of his career.

He died five days after attending the first concert at his namesake Slayter Center in October 1964.

The Inventors & Innovators website contains Purdue alumni from business and industry; technology; medicine and health; and the food and consumer industries.