4 Bettye Washington Greene

Bettye Washington Greene was the first African American female Ph.D. chemist. Originally attending a segregated high school in Fort Worth, Texas before moving to Alabama for college, Greene graduated from Tuskegee Institute with a bachelor of science in chemistry. She then went on to earn her Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Wayne State University. Her academic success earned her a spot at the Dow Chemical Company, making her the first African American female Ph.D. chemist to work in such a field. Her research looked at latex polymers, colloid chemistry, and phosphate coatings, all of which would pave the way for her to continue her research into other fields. As the senior promoter investigating a number of chemical advancements, Greene filed for a number of patents while working at Dow Chemical. Greene worked with these materials at this company up until her retirement in 1990. Dow Chemical Company is located in Michigan and today is one of the 3 largest chemical producers in the world focusing on plastics, chemicals, and agricultural products. Five years after retiring from Dow Chemical, Betty Washington Greene passed away in June 1995. With tons of contributions to the research of polymers, Greene made a gatewayed for improvement and a better understanding of how to improve latex with the use of polymers.

Greene was born in 1935, years before the Civil Rights movement kicked off. Truly exposed to her minority identity at a young age, Greene attended all public schools in a segregated environment; however, she did not let the injustice she faced affect her education. She continued to go to high school and eventually went to Tuskegee Institute, an all-African American university, where she earned her bachelors before she eventually got her Ph.D. in 1962 (James A. Barham, Academic Influence). This was a time when the Civil Rights movement had compelled African Americans to fight for their rights. Black individuals were not being treated equally, which is what makes Greene’s success so valuable. In 1965, Greene became the first African American female chemist to work at Dow Chemical Company, where she continued her research and utilized her skills. Greene was eventually promoted to Senior Research Specialist in 1975. Greene continued to make a mark as she joined the Delta Sigma Theta sorority in Midland, Michigan. Here, she was an alumna charter member and was able to emphasize work for African American Women. Greene’s work ethic and intelligence never went unnoticed as she was able to balance an intense work and social life, promoting other African American women that they could be destined for greatness. Today, Greene’s work and dedication continue to help motivate women and people of color to achieve their goals in STEM fields.

Greene’s work primarily focused on polymer chemistry. Polymers are large molecules, sometimes called macromolecules, that are made up of smaller units called monomers. Linking these monomers together to form a polymer is called polymerization, and is the same process by which many everyday items are now made. From the fibers in clothes, to the paint on our walls, most people see or interact with polymers every day. Much of the polymer research the Greene did focused on latex. Latex contains many natural polymers that are suspended in water, and once dry it stiffens to form a rubber-like substance that is used in products from glue to gloves. Greene used latex based polymers in order to develop a pressure-sensitive adhesive which could coat items such as paper. This became one of the bases for latex adhesive tapes.

Greene also studied colloids during her time at Dow Chemical. A colloid is a mixture of particles suspended in another substance such as smoke particles suspended in the air, or oil particles suspended in a mayonnaise. It is more common to hear about an emulsion, which is a specific type of colloid when both substances are liquids such as mayonnaise or vinaigrette. One of Greene’s patents focuses on an adhesive made by a process called emulsion polymerization which involves a suspension of the monomers into water, and then a polymerization reaction which binds the monomers to the final polymer.

Greene had also worked on how to properly determine the size of particles within an emulsion. Her doctoral thesis focused on using light scattering to determine the size of these particles in the emulsion.  When light it shone through an emulsion, some of the light will hit the particles that are suspended within. This light will ‘scatter’ or reflect to another direction. By measuring the amount of light that passed through the solution, Greene was able to estimate the size of particles within an emulsion. This technique is still used to this day to determine particle sizes.

Greene was able to overcome an immense amount of hardship in her life, and a majority of her education took place during segregation in the United States. Despite this, Greene achieved a Ph.D. as an African-American woman, and also was able to make her excellence seen, and by the time she retired she had pushed the world to better understand the variety and usefulness of polymer science in the everyday world.