who could withstand the man of steel? Stephanie Kwolek.

that's because she invented Kevlar, which is 5x stronger than steel.

about Kevlar: a fiber developed by Stephanie Kwolek in 1965, that is generally spun into sheets or ropes. there are over 200 products that use kevlar. some examples of products that use kevlar:

• bullet proof vests and body armor
  
• replace steal as rubber tire reinforcement
• brake linings
• asbestos replacement
• motorcycle safety clothing
• japanese archery blow strings
• paraglider suspension lines
• base textile for electricity producing clothing
• drumheads

about the inventor, Stephanie Kwolek: she was born July 31st, 1923, in a Pittsburgh suburb. she graduated from Margaret Morrison Carnegie College (known as Carnegie Mellon University today) with a degree in chemistry in 1946. . intending to save money for medical school, she took a job in chemistry at DuPont. (in light of World War II, many male dominated fields were being filled by women.)

in 1964, DuPont wanted to develop a high performance fiber for lighter, stiffer car tires (which would lead to better gas mileage). as no one wanted the project, Kwolek volunteered. in her course of research, she had developed a promising polymer. after wearing down the man who refused to spin the new material (out of fear that it would clog up the spinneret), it turned out that the fiber was 9 times stronger than previous materials she had developed. concerned that it was a fluke, she sent it for spinning several times, yielding the same results. after much care and dotting all of her "i's", she finally submitted the results to DuPont, and Kevlar was introduced to the world in 1971.

since 1971, kwolek's contribution to science and technology has improved lives well beyond her initial intentions. not only has she made cars more fuel efficient with strong and light automobile tire reinforcement, but she saves the lives of those whose job is to protect us and the lives of people like my brother that think he should pop wheelies on his motorcycle on the interstate.

most importantly, though, is that her invention isn't great because she is a woman, but because of it's contributions to humanity as a whole. additionally, it is proof of the positive effects from the absence of sausage parties in male dominant fields, such as chemistry. TAKE THAT, Joseph Clois Shivers, Jr!

source: wikipedia.org and http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/ima/kwolek_bio.html