6 April is National Teflon Day, which is celebrated annually. This day honours the accidental invention of Teflon by Doctor Roy Plunkett in 1938.
Teflon can be found almost everywhere, and in surprising places too. Besides coating metals for cooking, it is also used to protect fabrics, to reduce friction in the aerospace industry and to increase production as well as reduce contamination in pharmaceuticals.
Plunkett and his assistant were working in the Chemours Jackson laboratory in New Jersey when they accidentally discovered polytetrafluoroethylene. Chemours registered the Teflon trademark in 1945 and Plunkett was added to the Inventors’ Hall of Fame in 1985.
Although Plunkett invented and trademarked Teflon in 1945, Marion A Trozzoo brought it from the laboratory into the kitchen. This professor from Kansas City, Missouri had been using the substance to coat his scientific utensils and later founded Laboratory Plasticware Fabricators.
He marketed the first US-made Teflon-coated frying pan in 1961, naming it The Happy Pan.
To celebrate today, bring out the Teflon cookware and cook up some of your favourite dishes.
Use #NationalTeflonDay to post on social media.
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