Daniel W. Fox; Invented Lexan

Daniel W. Fox, 65, a chemist who invented Lexan, the tough plastic used in everything from compact discs to the face mask of the first astronaut on the moon. Fox said luck played a large part in inventing General Electric Co.’s largest-selling product, a tough polycarbonate used in computer housings, automobile bumpers, baby bottles and construction materials. At the end of a series of experiments, Fox said, he found a stirring rod stuck in a gooey brown mass that had hardened in a beaker. He dropped the rod and glob down a three-story stairwell, and it would not break. When GE was searching for a tough plastic, Fox remembered the glob and recreated the experiment, producing an early version of Lexan. Fox joined GE in 1953 after obtaining a doctorate from the University of Oklahoma. He won many awards, including the GE Charles P. Steinmetz award in 1973 and the International Award of the Society of Plastics Engineers in 1985. In Pittsfield, Mass. on Wednesday of cancer.