The Southwest Virginia Hall of Fame selected William Starnes, College of William and Mary chemistry professor, to be honored for his contribution to science.
Starnes, the Floyd Dewey Gottwald, Sr. Professor of Chemistry, was ranked in 2001 as one of fewer than 1,000 people across the globe with the greatest impact on the history of science. Starnes gained recognition for patenting, licensing and perfecting the process by which polyvinyl chloride, one of the world’s most common plastics, is made.
At a ceremony on Sept. 20, the Southwest Virginia Museum will placing a commemorative tile, one of its the first, in the museum’s sidewalk.