Synthetic fibers (or synthetic fibres in British English; see spelling differences) are fibersmade by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms. They are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve upon naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. In general, synthetic fibers are created by extruding fiber-forming materials through spinnerets, forming a fiber. These are called synthetic or artificial fibers. Synthetic fibers are created by a process known as polymerization, which involves combining monomers to make a long chain or polymer. The word polymer comes from a Greek prefix "poly" which means "many" and suffix "mer" which means "single units". (Note: each single unit of a polymer is called a monomer). There are two types of polymerization: linear polymerization and cross-linked polymerization.
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1904, Swan was knighted by King Edward VII,[3] awarded the Royal Society's Hughes Medal, and was made an honorary member of the Pharmaceutical Society. He had received the highest decoration in France, the Legion of Honour, when he visited the 1881 International Exposition of Electricity, Paris. The exhibition included displays of his inventions, and the city was lit with his electric lighting.[4]
Early life Edit
Joseph Wilson Swan was born in 1828 at Pallion Hall in Pallion, in the Parish of Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland, County Durham. His parents were John Swan and Isabella Cameron.[5] Swan was apprenticed for six years to a Sunderland firm of druggists, Hudson and Osbaldiston.[4] However, it is not known if Swan completed his six-year apprenticeship, as both partners subsequently died.[4] He was said to have had an enquiring mind,[4] even as a child. He augmented his education with a fascination of his surroundings, the industry of the area, and reading at Sunderland Library.[4] He attended lectures at the Sunderland Atheneum.[6] Swan subsequently joined Mawson's, a firm of manufacturing chemists in Newcastle upon Tyne, started in the year of Swan's birth by John Mawson[4] (9 September 1819 – 17 December 1867), the husband of his sister, Elizabeth Swan (22 November 1822 – 2 August 1905). In 1846, Swan was offered a partnership at Mawson's.[4] This company subsequently existed as Mawson, Swan and Morgan until 1973, formerly located on Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne, near Grey's Monument. The premises, now occupied by burger chain restaurant Byron, can be identified by a line of Victorian-style electric street lamps in front of the store on Grey Street.
Swan lived at Underhill, Low Fell, Gateshead, a large house on Kells Lane North, where he conducted most of his experiments in the large conservatory.[7] The house was later converted into a private fee paying, grant aided co-educational grammar school named Beaconsfield School.[8] Here, students could still find examples of Swan's original electrical fittings.[8]