Lecture 34 - Sue Mossman

We are pleased to be joined in this series by the Modern Materials Network

Sue Mossman, Science Museum research associate and chair of Plastics Historical society

Overview

The late 19th and 20th centuries generated an enormous transformation in the development and manufacturing of new textile fibres. The development of semi-synthetic and then synthetic textiles opened a whole new world of choices for the fashion industry, for the consumer and for myriad other applications, notably in the areas of medicine, aerospace, architecture, engineering, industry and sport. More recent concerns have raised the issue of microplastics entering water supplies and oceans from washing synthetic textiles. Future developments in new textile fibres will have to be designed incorporating sustainable life cycles.

About the speaker

Dr Susan Mossman has specialised in the history and preservation of plastics, with additional research interests in materials science, archaeometallurgy and museological studies. Her professional career had been spent at the Science Museum in London UK, as a curator, project leader and now as an honorary research associate. Her publications include Early Plastics: perspectives 1850 to 1950 and Fantastic Plastics and she was lead curator of the Plasticity exhibition at the Science Museum. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and chairs the Plastics Historical Society