Aarati Asundi (00:12) Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Smart Tea Podcast where we talk about the lives of scientists and innovators who shape the world. I'm Aarati. Jyoti Asundi (00:21) And I'm Jyoti her mom. Aarati Asundi (00:22) I'm back from Boston. I was traveling for a bit. I was really excited to be meeting my friends and family in Boston, but I'm also equally excited to be back. Jyoti Asundi (00:33) I'll be running off from my travels very soon as well. Aarati Asundi (00:36) Yes.   Jyoti Asundi (00:37) I'm going off to India, go back to my motherland basically, the place where I was born and I grew up. And when I go back to India, the words that greet me are "Global Desi". "Desh, the word "desh" means nation, and desi is "the one from the nation." And they recognize in an international airport that the people coming in are Desi at heart, but they live all over the world. So we are called "Global Desis" and my heart skips a beat when I see those words. So I'm looking forward to that. Aarati Asundi (01:12) So nice. Yes, Yeah. And I think episode is going to be out in November when a lot of people are thinking about traveling for the holidays. So thought this was a good one to do around this time. And actually, today's scientist, I found his name in the Boston airport. So, so actually about the Boston airport, when I landed when I was walking from the arrivals gate towards like baggage claim and all of that, there's this big hall that was this tribute to JFK and the space race and along the and along the entire hallway there were just milestones of, inventions or discoveries that were made during that time. And you could hear JFK's voice echoing throughout the hall giving this speech about, you know, why this was such a monumental time for America and all the discoveries that we're making and, you know, how great we are as a nation and, important these things are. Jyoti Asundi (02:18) Harking back to the time when science was indeed great and this nation had become number one, primarily because everybody in the country gave importance to new innovations based on real science. ⁓ Aarati Asundi (02:34) Yes, it really did tug at my heartstrings a bit like, Oh my god, this is what we need, this is what we... Jyoti Asundi (02:41) Not just what we need, we had it! And we are... Aarati Asundi (02:43) Yeah, we had it. Jyoti Asundi (02:44) hell-bent on throwing Aarati Asundi (02:47) Yeah, so I was just like, "wow! this is amazing" as I was walking the airport. But I was kind of stressed out when I arrived. And so I was trying to find an Uber. I was trying to get to my destination, to my friend's house. And I was like, you know, my god, stressed. But on the way back when I was returning home to California, of course, I got to the airport a few hours early. And so I had a bit more time to kind of just walk around the airport, explore a little bit. And actually just all around the airport, there are tributes to science, like just everywhere in all the different terminals, they're just along the hallways, there are different milestones, especially ones that happened in Boston. And everything, not just science, it's also singers and actors and everything that came out of Boston, basically. Jyoti Asundi (03:33) Yes. Pay homage to talent. Aarati Asundi (03:38) Yes. I was just going through the airport, like, looking at all these signs. And the one person who really happened to catch my eye and who we'll be talking about today... IJyoti Asundi (02:41) know you've definitely heard of his name, although I'm sure you know nothing about him. His name is Charles Goodyear. Jyoti Asundi (03:56) Oh my God, yeah, yeah, yeah. Does it have anything to do with the tires and all that? The auto industry? Aarati Asundi (04:03) Yes, yes. Jyoti Asundi (03:56) oh! You're right. The minute you say the word "Goodyear", immediately my brain links it to the auto industry. Aarati Asundi (04:14) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (04:15) And yet I know nothing about this person. Aarati Asundi (04:18) But it's interesting, though, because although your mind does link Charles Goodyear to tires and the auto industry, he actually was much before that. He actually didn't have much to do with that, which was surprising to me. Jyoti Asundi (04:35) That's interesting. Okay, okay. Aarati Asundi (04:37) Yeah, so he is the inventor of vulcanized rubber, which we will get into the details of. But essentially, it's a way to harden or cure natural rubber. Jyoti Asundi (04:51) Whoa that's really interesting. Maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit here, but I wonder if the people who invented the tires actually paid homage to him Aarati Asundi (05:04) Yes, that's actually exactly what happened. So actually, the Goodyear Company was started by a man named Frank Seiberling, who was another American inventor, in Akron, Ohio. And they are the ones who started manufacturing bicycle tires and carriage tires. And then later on, joined the automobile industry and started to make automobile tires. But he named the company Goodyear after Charles Goodyear. He didn't name it after himself. Jyoti Asundi (05:35) Fantastic. Fantastic. Aarati Asundi (05:36) Yeah, it's very similar to what happened with Joseph Lister and the guy who started the Listerine company. Jyoti Asundi (05:44) You covered that of your very, very early episodes. Aarati Asundi (05:47) Episode three, yeah. Jyoti Asundi (05:48) Yes. Aarati Asundi (05:49) All the way back. Yes. But I just also thought it was really fitting that I found this name in an airport because the interesting thing about airplane tires, which is this little factoid that I had heard a long time ago randomly and it stuck in my brain... Jyoti Asundi (06:08) Yeah. Aarati Asundi (06:08) ...is that while most tires like on bicycles and automobiles are at least partially synthetic, made of synthetic rubber, commercial airplane tires and military aircraft tires are almost entirely made of natural rubber because only natural rubber can withstand the high pressure and heat that is generated when the plane lands. So you need that. Jyoti Asundi (06:31) Oh wow! Only nature can make something that strong. Aarati Asundi (06:35) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (06:36) I am excited to hear this story. Aarati Asundi (06:39) Yes. So this story is very, very fascinating. I know about, I say that about everyone that we cover, but truly this story is just so interesting. I got a lot of the information about Charles Goodyear from a biography called "Trials of an Inventor: Life and Discoveries of Charles Goodyear" by Bradford Pierce. And in reading it, it is very aptly named because he truly went through some trials. So we're going to get into that. Jyoti Asundi (07:12) Yes. Aarati Asundi (07:13) So Charles was born on December 29th, 1800 in New Haven, Connecticut to Amasa and Cynthia Goodyear. He was the eldest of six children. His father Amasa was a farmer and inventor who was constantly improving manufacturing, particularly of agricultural equipment. He was a very successful businessman and was engaged in the manufacturing and trade of all sorts of goods, including pitchforks, scythes, metal buttons, spoons, and clocks. And Amasa passed on his love for inventing down to his children as well. So since Charles is the oldest child, he spent a lot of time helping his family with the farm and the businesses that it was connected Because of this, his formal education was very limited. But he was a very mature, serious boy. He spent a lot of time thinking about improvements that could be made around the farm. And also, his family was very religious. Jyoti Asundi (08:15) Yes. Aarati Asundi (08:17) Charles was a devout Christian throughout his life. And this becomes a really important point throughout his story. But he's very serious about it. He's very, you know, dutiful. He believes it's God's will that he should be working on the farm and helping his family. He's often found reading the Bible. Jyoti Asundi (08:36) I love that. I love that combination where you have devotion to God because devotion to God brings in humility, brings in gratitude. It keeps you grounded, actually. In today's world, it's almost like the two, God and science cannot coexist in the same person. This kind of thing is also known about Louis Pasteur, actually. Aarati Asundi (09:00) Oh really? Jyoti Asundi (09:00) Yeah. He was very devoted to God. Aarati Asundi (09:01) Oh interesting. Jyoti Asundi (09:04) Yeah there is a story about him. He was traveling on the train one time and a random person him reading and he asked "What are you reading?" And he said, "I'm reading the Bible." And the random person who sat next to him said, you know, do you realize that this is all proven to be fake now? There is no God. So Louis Pasteur expresses deep interest and says, really? Tell me more. And this person goes off. "Yes, it's all logic. And it's been proven. There is no God. It's all you know, there is... Here's the science behind it and everything." And so he's like, "Oh, you're a very interesting young man. Where are you going off to?" He says, "Yeah, I'm going off to Paris. I have just gained a position in the Louis Pasteur Institute. And I'm so I'm so thrilled about it. And I'm going to go there and I'm going to get to meet Louis Pasteur himself. And he's an amazing scientist. And I want to follow in his footsteps." And then, of course, at the end, Louis Pasteur reveals that he.. Aarati Asundi (10:08) It's like, guess who I am? Nice to meet you. Jyoti Asundi (10:10) Yeah, yeah. Yes, exactly. So there's a very beautiful story there. Aarati Asundi (10:14) Yeah, so this this devotion to God will become very important throughout his story, as you will see. Jyoti Asundi (10:22) Yeah. Aarati Asundi (10:23) When Charles was 17, he left home to go to Philadelphia to apprentice at the Roger and Brothers hardware firm. He spent about a year there learning the business, and then he returned back to Connecticut to enter into a true partnership with his father. He was very fulfilled whenever he saw how the inventions that they were making were able to help farmers make their lives easier. And it inspired him to keep inventing. In 1824, Charles got married to Clarissa Beecher, who went to the same church as him. She is also an important character in the story because she fully supported his inventing. Even when he was going through his rough times and his inventions working out, she was a really steadfast partner, completely with him 100 % of the way. Jyoti Asundi (11:15) Oh lovely. Such, such a lovely couple. Aarati Asundi (11:18) A couple of years later, 1826, Charles and Clarissa moved to Philadelphia to open their own hardware store. It was the first store that sold hardware and equipment that was made domestically rather than importing them. Jyoti Asundi (11:32) Oh, in 1800s? Were they importing them from England or the British or something? Aarati Asundi (11:37) Yeah, a lot of things were coming in from Europe. Jyoti Asundi (11:39) Because 1800s... yeah, America just got their independence, but they have not completely thrown off the British influence. Aarati Asundi (11:47) Correct. Jyoti Asundi (11:48) So they are still importing these big things from Britain. Got it, okay. Aarati Asundi (11:52) Yeah, because they don't have a lot of infrastructure yet. Jyoti Asundi (11:55) That's right. Aarati Asundi (11:55) They don't have a trained industrial workforce. Things are not set up properly. Jyoti Asundi (11:59) Correct. Correct. The early days of the pioneer. Aarati Asundi (12:03) Yes, exactly. So early Americans are relying heavily on importing and trading goods that they needed. Jyoti Asundi (12:10) Yes. Aarati Asundi (12:10) But soon the American and the British started butting heads. Jyoti Asundi (12:15) Of course. Aarati Asundi (12:16) American people claimed that the British were restricting free trade with European countries, were forcing American sailors to serve in the British Navy, and impeding American settlers from expanding their territories westward among a whole bunch of other grievances. Jyoti Asundi (12:33) Hmm. Aarati Asundi (12:35) So eventually this led to the War of 1812. And afterwards, Americans started trying to move away from relying so heavily on importing goods. Jyoti Asundi (12:44) Absolutely. Aarati Asundi (12:44) They realized that this isn't the way to build a country. Jyoti Asundi (12:46) You need to be self-reliant in order to make it as a nation. Absolutely. Aarati Asundi (12:51) Yeah. And so because of this general feeling that, you know, we need to stop relying on imported goods and trading so much, Charles is really well positioned at this time to set up his hardware store that sells domestically made goods. And so his business flourishes for a few years. However, in the winter of 1829, Charles became extremely sick. He suffered from dyspepsia, which is a syndrome of multiple symptoms, including abdominal pain, heartburn, nausea, indigestion, and a host of other digestive problems. And these health problems actually plague him throughout his entire life. Jyoti Asundi (13:34) Oh sad. Okay. Aarati Asundi (13:36) Simultaneously, problems start to plague his business. Since everything had been going so well the first few years, the business had expanded very fast and they had allowed several of their customers to buy things on credit... Jyoti Asundi (13:49) Oh yes. Aarati Asundi (13:50) But when several of these customers failed to make their payments, Charles was forced to start selling the patents on several of his inventions. And because of that, he was giving up huge amounts of potential wealth. Jyoti Asundi (14:05) Absolutely. Oh that is so sad to hear. Aarati Asundi (14:09) Yeah. But he actually didn't seem very bitter about it. He handled it with a lot of grace, a very positive attitude in general. However, the following years were extremely difficult because of his sickness and because of, you know, the business difficulties and ultimately his business failed. Jyoti Asundi (14:29) He's being hit on all fronts. Aarati Asundi (14:31) Mm-hmm. Charles was repeatedly imprisoned for debt. Jyoti Asundi (14:36) Oh that sound like really tough times. Aarati Asundi (14:38) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (14:39) He's married, he probably has children at this point. Aarati Asundi (14:40) Yeah just barely...two small daughters. He has a small family to support. He's in prison. And now he's inventing with the sole purpose of being able to sell the patent in order to immediately cover his debt because he needs to support his family. Jyoti Asundi (14:59) Oh that's such hardship. Sad, really sad to hear. Aarati Asundi (15:05) However, he remains unexpectedly hopeful and full of faith that his imprisonment is part of God's greater plan for him. He's like, this is a lesson. God is making me do this for a reason. Jyoti Asundi (15:18) Yes, oh that is true strength. Aarati Asundi (15:22) But his business failing had been a great embarrassment to everyone involved, and he couldn't find anyone who would take him seriously now as a business partner anymore. So he decides that since he already kind of inadvertently had gained this reputation as an inventor and a mechanical engineer of sorts, which wasn't very... that wasn't held in very high esteem to be an inventor. Jyoti Asundi (15:46) More considered like an eccentric passion, a quirky little thing you do on the side, like a hobby. You are failing in your true calling as a businessman, and here you are running off being very quirky and eccentric inventor. Aarati Asundi (16:01) Exactly it was much more respected to be a businessman. But he's now gained this reputation as a failed businessman and instead an inventor and mechanical engineer Jyoti Asundi (16:15) Which further adds to his ill repute basically. Aarati Asundi (16:18) Yes, exactly. Yeah. So he just decides, you know what, I'm just going to embrace that and become a professional inventor. That is what I'm going to do. Jyoti Asundi (16:27) Nice. Great. Aarati Asundi (16:29) So in 1831, he's sitting in jail and he's looking for new things that he can invent. And he starts reading about a substance called gum elastic or India rubber. Jyoti Asundi (16:41) Okay. Aarati Asundi (16:42) It actually primarily comes from South America. It's not from India. But the colonizers in South America called the people, the local native people Indians in South America as well. Jyoti Asundi (16:45) Yes, correct. Truly the world very black and white for them. They had set out to look for in India, right? Aarati Asundi (17:02) Yep. Jyoti Asundi (17:03) In order to get the spices. And wherever they found brown people, they decided that was India until they were proven wrong. Aarati Asundi (17:13) Yeah everybody's Indians. Jyoti Asundi (17:13) Yeah, it's truly, truly remarkable cultural ignorance. But hey. Aarati Asundi (17:17) But I was thinking it gives that term "Global Desi" a whole new meaning. Jyoti Asundi (17:23) Hey, we are all Indians! Aarati Asundi (17:24) We're all Indians. Jyoti Asundi (17:27) Everybody came. This reminds me of the big fat Greek wedding where every word the father says, "That was originally from Greek." Aarati Asundi (17:38) Yeah, we're all Greek. Jyoti Asundi (17:38) I have the same feeling. We are all Indians. At heart, you're truly Indians. You have a little more brown in you and you have a little more black in you and you have a little more pale in you. That's it. But at heart and in the soul, you're a true Indian. Aarati Asundi (17:56) Yeah, so that's where the word India came from in India rubber. The word rubber came from our good friend Dr. Joseph Priestley. Remember him? Jyoti Asundi (18:07) Oh yeah, the oxygen guy. Aarati Asundi (18:10) Yeah, we mentioned him in Alessandro Volta's episode. Jyoti Asundi (18:14) Absolutely. Aarati Asundi (18:15) He was just all over the place. So Joseph Priestley found that this substance could erase lead pencil lines. And so that's where the term rubber comes from. Jyoti Asundi (18:26) Oh rub it off, got it, got it. We still call rubber in India, eraser in the back of the pencil. Aarati Asundi (18:35) India was colonized by the British and the British call erasers rubbers, right? Jyoti Asundi (18:37) Correct, rubbers. Yes exactly. Aarati Asundi (18:41) So that's where the term comes from. Portuguese settlers in South America found that they could turn the rubber into shoes, boots, and other clothing, which was waterproof and very protective. So getting into the chemistry of rubber a little bit here, Rubber comes from the sap of a rubber tree. Jyoti Asundi (18:59) Okay. Aarati Asundi (19:00) And it's made up of long hydrocarbon chains that are loose and kind of slide around like sticky spaghetti. So sap is collected and then poured into a wooden shoe mold coated with clay to prevent the rubber from sticking to the wood. This is then heated over a smoking fire until it turns black and hardens. Jyoti Asundi (19:23) Okay. Aarati Asundi (19:24) The heat from the fire helped evaporate the water in the sap, and the chemicals in the smoke would oxidize the surface of the rubber so that it would get hard. Jyoti Asundi (19:35) Okay, got it. Aarati Asundi (19:36) And when I say oxidize, basically what that means is oxygen-containing groups like carbonyl and hydroxyl are being formed in the rubber. And this promotes the hydrocarbon chains to link up and that's what causes the rubber to harden. Jyoti Asundi (19:56) Okay. Aarati Asundi (19:56) So it's important to note that if you just simply heat the rubber, it doesn't harden. It melts and gets looser. So you need the smoke from the fire for that oxidization to happen. The chemicals from the smoke is what is... Jyoti Asundi (20:11) Is what is happening. Okay, you need, it's almost smoked rubber basically. That's what is, okay, not just heated. Aarati Asundi (20:16) Yes, yes. And this is the very early processes. So they would spread a thin layer, smoke it to harden it, and then you could repeat that by spreading repeatedly thin layers until the rubber becomes as thick as you need. Jyoti Asundi (20:32) Yes. Aarati Asundi (20:32) And then once it's as thick as you want it to be, the rubber is removed and broken out of the clay. And then once it's cooled, you have a rubber shoe. Jyoti Asundi (20:42) Nice. Aarati Asundi (20:43) The first rubber shoes were brought to the US to Boston in 1820, and people soon realized how useful they were for keeping their feet dry and protected. And so the demand for rubber shoes boomed... Jyoti Asundi (20:56) Of course. Aarati Asundi (20:56) ...as well as the raw sap that they could use then to waterproof clothing made of cloth and leather. Jyoti Asundi (21:02) Yeah, yeah. Aarati Asundi (21:04) So Charles, sitting in prison, is reading everything he can about gum elastic and rubber and how it's made and how it's used. He sees a lot of potential for this material. And eventually, when he's let out of jail, he takes a trip to New York, where he happens to pass by a store the Roxbury India Rubber Company. Out of curiosity, he goes in and he notices some life preservers and he thinks to himself that the inflation tube kind of sucks for preservers. So back at home, he tinkers with the design and he makes some better inflation tubes. Jyoti Asundi (21:42) Nice. Aarati Asundi (21:43) Then he goes back to the store the next time he's in New York and he shows the manager who's very impressed with this new design. So now he and the manager are friends. They're chatting and the manager tells Charles that actually the Roxbury Rubber Company, as well as probably the whole rubber industry, is on the brink of ruin. Jyoti Asundi (22:03) Wow. Because...? Aarati Asundi (22:06) Because the rubber products they made and sold in the fall and winter of the previous year had all completely melted or warped horribly during the summer. Jyoti Asundi (22:17) Okay, got it. They were not as weather resistant as they should have been. Aarati Asundi (22:23) They're okay, but like when you're hardening them over the fire using the smoke to oxidize the rubber, it's not actually fully hardening all of the rubber. So... Jyoti Asundi (22:36) Aha, I am with you. Aarati Asundi (22:37) Yeah, so because of that, if you heat it up again in the summertime when it gets really hot, there are parts of the, of the rubber that will melt. And then also not only the rubber as it's melting gives off this horrible stench. Jyoti Asundi (22:53) Oh no. Aarati Asundi (22:54) Yeah. And then once it got cold again, the rubber got stuck in that warped shape. Jyoti Asundi (23:00) In the warped shape and it's useless. Completely useless forever then after that. ⁓ Aarati Asundi (23:06) Exactly. And then also the rubber, once it's cold, can become brittle and break apart. So that's also not good if it becomes too cold. Jyoti Asundi (23:13) Yes, correct. Aarati Asundi (23:16) So now not only are the consumers unhappy because what they bought has now failed them, but any unsold rubber goods that the Roxbury company had had from the previous year are also now ruined and... Jyoti Asundi (23:28) Yes, is no buyers anymore. Aarati Asundi (23:30) But they're also warped. And it's like no one wants to buy a warped shoe anyway. Jyoti Asundi (23:33) Oh! They are sitting on the shelves and warping. Aarati Asundi (23:35) Yeah, their stock is melted. Jyoti Asundi (23:38) Yes, their stock is self-destructing. Aarati Asundi (23:41) Yes. And so they have nothing they can do with this rubber anymore and it's stinking horribly as it's melting. So they have to bury it underground in order to get rid of it and not, you know, stink up the whole place. Jyoti Asundi (23:55) I bet you he said, give it to me. Aarati Asundi (23:58) So in his biography, Trials of an Inventor, author Bradford Pierce writes, "It was such a discouraging hour as this that Charles Goodyear felt himself called upon as by a voice from heaven to enter upon the work of redeeming this unfortunate but invaluable substance from the contempt into which it had fallen." End quote. Jyoti Asundi (24:22) Wow, lovely way of putting it. That's strong language, fantastically put. Aarati Asundi (24:28) Yeah, so I think this biography was written in the 1800s, also shortly after Charles Goodyear's death. And so just again, the language that they use is just like, man, we don't talk like that anymore. Jyoti Asundi (24:39) Yes, we don't talk like this anymore. Aarati Asundi (24:41) I love it. Yeah. Yeah, Into the contempt into which it had fallen. My God. Jyoti Asundi (24:47) It had fallen. Yes. Aarati Asundi (24:49) And so Charles became convinced that if this problem could be solved, rubber would become invaluable not only as clothing, but also in life-saving medical devices and scientific equipment. Jyoti Asundi (25:02) Yes. Aarati Asundi (25:03) And he originally saw its application in life preservers and lifeboats at sea. So he's like, there's a lot of potential here for actual life-changing inventions. Jyoti Asundi (25:15) Yes. Aarati Asundi (25:16) He returned to Philadelphia where he was promptly arrested again by an... Jyoti Asundi (25:20) No! Aarati Asundi (25:20) ...unpaid creditor and sent to jail. Jyoti Asundi (25:25) Back to jail. Aarati Asundi (25:26) And here his jail cell, he starts his first experiments on rubber. Jyoti Asundi (25:31) Wow, how? Aarati Asundi (25:34) Luckily, it was a cheap material and very easy to come by in jail. And it was also very easy to manipulate without needing any heavy machinery because rubber becomes soft at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which could be achieved simply by leaving it out in the sun. And it melts at 200 Fahrenheit which also isn't that difficult to achieve because water boils at 212. So, don't need any like crazy expensive machinery here to be working with rubber. Jyoti Asundi (26:07) Right, right, right. Okay, okay. Aarati Asundi (26:11) At least for what he's doing. Nowadays, who knows? Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (26:13) What he's trying. Yeah, he's just trying to manipulate. No, no, no, this is the early days. He's just trying to manipulate the composition so that it doesn't do this awful, you know, breakdown, melting, stenching mess. Aarati Asundi (26:28) Yeah. So the first sort of success he had was when he mixed the sap with magnesia or magnesium oxide, which is a drying and neutralizing agent. Jyoti Asundi (26:40) Okay. Aarati Asundi (26:41) So this created a white compound that was no longer sticky. So it was potentially a different way of hardening the rubber gum rather than using smoke from a fire. Jyoti Asundi (26:53) Right, right, right. Aarati Asundi (26:55) Once he was released from jail, a friend gave Charles and his family the support they needed to move into a cottage in New Haven and he could work on improving his invention. He started by dissolving the gum in turpentine to make the rubber easy to spread across cloth. And then he would add lamp black, which is a black pigment made of soot and magnesia to harden it. And the whole family got involved in this invention process. So even his young children were helping make shoes and little purses to test out this material. Jyoti Asundi (27:28) Isn't that wonderful? Aarati Asundi (27:30) Yeah, I thought it was so cute. Jyoti Asundi (27:31) You know, in today's world, a man like that would have lost his credibility with his family by this point. You're not able to pay your debts, you're being thrown into jail willy-nilly all the time. And when you're finally are let back out and you're given a second chance to kind of redeem yourself, given a bit of support, instead of going out there and, you know, finding a full-time job, you're again sitting there tinkering, being all quirky. And not only do they like that, but they join him! Aarati Asundi (28:04) Yeah, I think faith in this material-- that it would be useful, it would be a world-changing material-- was infectious, I think. His family was, like I said, his wife was behind him 100 % and then his children also were like, yes, dad's the greatest, let's help him. Jyoti Asundi (28:21) Yeah, what a beautiful family. Aarati Asundi (28:25) Yeah. So they're all working on this. However, after a year, they found that this mixing the sap with magnesia didn't work in the long term. The gum still became soft and sticky again over time. It was extremely disappointing. And the few friends that stuck by Charles up to this point also became extremely discouraged and told him, it's time to give up. And they also said, we're not going to support you or your family if you continue down this line. Jyoti Asundi (28:54) Yeah, yeah, I can see, I can see that. Aarati Asundi (28:56) Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (28:57) There is practicality, pragmatism coming in at some point. Aarati Asundi (29:00) There is, yes. Jyoti Asundi (29:01) Yeah, I see that. I don't blame the friends either. Aarati Asundi (29:03) No, no, I can totally see. I can totally see why they're like, "Stop messing around. You have a family to support. Get on it." Jyoti Asundi (29:10) Do it. Aarati Asundi (29:11) Yeah. Charles and his family were forced to sell whatever furniture they could and move out of the cottage into a boarding place in the country. During this time, Charles and Clarissa also lost a son and one of their other daughters nearly died. And yet he remained confident that all of these trials were God's plan and there was something bigger in store for him. And his faith was just huge in getting him through this time. Jyoti Asundi (29:40) Oh wow, wow. Aarati Asundi (29:42) He refused to give up on his rubber experiments. So after making sure his family was settled, he went to New York alone to continue his experiments. I think he was a very friendly kind of affable guy because wherever he goes throughout the story, he always just convinces one person to kind of help him, you know? Jyoti Asundi (30:03) Yes, to believe in him, yes. Aarati Asundi (30:04) One friend, he finds somebody who like... Jyoti Asundi (30:07) Somebody who will trust him enough to say, yes, carry on. Aarati Asundi (30:12) Yes, he had some sort of you know, charisma about him. So even in New York, he finds a friend who lets him stay in his attic and he a local druggist who gives him the equipment he needs to continue his experiments. Jyoti Asundi (30:28) Okay. Aarati Asundi (30:29) So he thought that maybe dissolving the rubber in turpentine was making it too soft. So he next tried mixing the sap with magnesia again, but this time he boiled it in quicklime or calcium oxide and water. And that boiling process heated it and made it spreadable. Jyoti Asundi (30:48) Okay. Aarati Asundi (30:49) The quicklime dried out the rubber and hardened it, so this seemed promising. Charles quickly made a bunch of clothing out of it so he could wear it all day and test it. His biographer, Bradford Pierce, wrote, "A gentleman in the city being inquired of how he might recognize Mr. Goodyear was answered, if you meet a man who has on an India rubber cap, stock, coat, vest, and shoes with an India rubber money purse without a cent of money in it, that is he." Jyoti Asundi (31:20) Wow. Wow. He's a walking, talking advertisement for his own inventions. Aarati Asundi (31:29) Yep. But without a single cent to his name, despite that. Jyoti Asundi (31:35) Yes. Aarati Asundi (31:36) Initially again, he thought he had succeeded and obtained a patent for this new method of treating rubber. And he even won some medals at fairs at the Mechanics and American Institutes in 1835. But one day, he noticed that a drop of weak acid fell on the rubber and neutralized the quicklime, making the rubber soft again. So he went back to the drawing board. Again, I need to mention here that Charles is not a trained chemist. He doesn't know what the quicklime is doing or what the magnesia is doing on a chemical level. He's just trying things. He's like, I know magnesia is a drying agent, so let's try he doesn't know that the quicklime had only dried out the rubber. And then once the acid neutralized it, the rubber became sticky again. Jyoti Asundi (32:29) Yes. Aarati Asundi (32:31) So kind of by accident, the next thing he tries is mixing the sap with magnesia, boiling it in quicklime, and then dipping it in nitric acid. This is very effective at curing the rubber because nitric acid also happens to be a strong oxidizing agent, just like the smoke from the fire. Jyoti Asundi (32:51) Yes, correct, correct. Aarati Asundi (32:55) So although the nitric acid is also neutralizing the quicklime, it's introducing those oxygen atoms, which is cross-linking the hydrocarbon polymer chains together. Rather than just drying out the rubber to harden it like the quicklime was doing, this is actually introducing that oxidization reaction, which is cross-linking the polymers and hardening the rubber that way. Jyoti Asundi (33:21) Yes, yes. Aarati Asundi (33:22) And again, he has no clue about any of this. He's just like, hey, that worked somehow. Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (33:24) Yeah, he's just trying it. Yes, yes. He's just kind of trying various combinations. Aarati Asundi (33:30) It also nearly killed him because the buildup of nitric oxide gas and other harsh chemicals almost suffocated him in this little room that he's working in. Jyoti Asundi (33:40) Oh no. Oh no. Aarati Asundi (33:41) Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (33:43) No safety measures in place. Horrible. Aarati Asundi (33:45) Absolutely none. Fortunately, he survived though, and he took out a patent on this new process. He started making products with this new rubber to great success. Even the president of the United States at that time, Andrew Jackson, wrote to him commending him on his success. The product was so great that all of a sudden Charles had no problem finding an investor and business partner to help him commercialize the product. Together, Charles and his partner set up a large manufacturing factory on Staten Island and started making shoes, clothes, and life preservers. And for a very short time, things are finally looking up. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Aarati Asundi (34:31) Hi everyone, Aarati here. I hope you're enjoying the podcast. If so, and you wish someone would tell your science story, I founded a science communications company called Sykom, that's S-Y-K-O-M, that can help. Sykom blends creativity with scientific accuracy to create all types of science, communications, content, including explainer videos, slide presentations, science, writing, and more. We work with academic researchers, tech companies, nonprofits, or really any scientists. To help simplify your science, check us out at sykommer.com. That's S-Y-K-O-M-M-E r.com. Back to the story. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Aarati Asundi (35:18) But as if the universe is playing this cruel trick on him, a major financial crisis called the Panic of 1838... Jyoti Asundi (35:27) Oh yes. Oh right, right, right. Aarati Asundi (35:37) ...hit the US, plunging the entire economy into a depression that lasted several years. So it actually turned out that this was the worst possible time to have started a new business. Jyoti Asundi (35:40) Oh no. Oh no. Aarati Asundi (35:42) Not only did Charles and his partner lose everything that they had invested in, but on top of that, people once again saw that Charles had failed, even it wasn't his fault this time. Jyoti Asundi (35:54) Right, right. He seems to be like "There goes the failure." Like a failure mark stamped on his forehead or something. Horrible. ⁓ sad, sad. Aarati Asundi (36:01) Exactly. So people are seeing this pattern. Charles and his family are now completely penniless. They're pawning off everything they can for a few dollars to buy food and they're begging anyone they knew for a few dollars to help them get by. Jyoti Asundi (36:16) Sad. Very sad Aarati Asundi (36:17) He was saved by two men named John Haskins of the Roxbury Rubber Company, that company that he had seen the life preservers in and got him on this whole rubber journey to begin with. Jyoti Asundi (36:28) Yeah, that's right. In the first time in New York, right? Correct. Aarati Asundi (36:33) Yep. And Edwin Chaffee, who invited him to Boston and loaned him money to get by. And these two men encouraged Charles not to give up on his rubber inventions because they really could see the potential and ingenuity that Charles had. Both of these men had access to machinery and potential business contacts from their own work in the rubber industry. And they gave Charles the freedom to use whatever he wanted that they had access to. Jyoti Asundi (37:01) That is very generous. Yes. Aarati Asundi (37:02) And again, just speaks to his character and his just like ability to win people over and, you know, just make friends, and inspire people. Jyoti Asundi (37:12) That is one thing also, but even the people who are helping him now, they know the rubber industry and they're able to see the potential of how his ingenuity can change the market. And because he's in a desperate situation, they could have done bad things. They could have really got him to sign away... Aarati Asundi (37:31) Screwed him over, yeah. Jyoti Asundi (37:33) Exactly, like you're nothing but a paid laborer. And those days, it used to be something $50 per year, $30 per year. Here's your salary. Everything you do belongs to us. They could have done something like that. And we see that with that guy. I'm remembering your previous episode. I think it was Kristian Birkeland who had to... Aarati Asundi (37:54) Mm-hmm. Yes. Jyoti Asundi (37:57) ...collaborate with a businessman, Sam something, I don't remember the businessman's name. But the guy just screwed him over. He got himself on the patent that actually this Khristian Birkeland had invented. And when the Nobel committee wanted to honor Kristian Birkeland, this guy would not allow it without being included. And obviously the Nobel committee would see that the businessman had not contributed anything to that particular invention and yet wanted in on it. That guy was blocking him in at every turn I'm really glad to see a different story here where Charles Goodyear was given encouragement and given the resources to continue ingenuity, ingenuities in the field improving the rubber as a material to use without that claw on his back. Aarati Asundi (38:54) Yeah, he has this very long streak of bad luck, but he always gets a little bit of good luck too to help him bounce back. Jyoti Asundi (39:05) He has good energy, so somehow good people come his way. And maybe that's the faith in God that brings it. Aarati Asundi (39:11) Yeah, I'm sure that's what he attributed it to also. Just like God is providing a way forward for me, no matter how bad things get. Jyoti Asundi (39:19) God is sending good people into his life. Aarati Asundi (39:22) Yes. So once again, Charles slowly began to get back on his feet. He sold another patent for constructing rubber shoes to help cover the cost of living for a bit. He also was able to make products like tablecloths and carriage covers, which were extremely high quality and sold very well. In one year, he was able to make $4-5,000, which is equivalent to around $160,000 or $170,000 today. Jyoti Asundi (39:50) Nice. Aarati Asundi (39:51) With this, he was able to provide comfortable living for his family who were once again very enthusiastic about their change and fortune. Jyoti Asundi (39:58) Of course. They stuck with him through the thin times and now they get to enjoy his good times. Aarati Asundi (40:08) So then one day in the summer of 1838, Charles met a man named Nathaniel Hayward a patent for hardening rubber by spreading sulfur on it and letting it sit out in the sun. No one in the rubber industry had really taken much notice of this method because the smell of using sulfur was horrible. Jyoti Asundi (40:29) Yes. Aarati Asundi (40:30) Charles was interested though, because the sulfur had very much the same effect as his current acid gas method that he was using with the nitric acid. And so he bought the patent from Nathaniel Hayward so that he could tinker with it. Jyoti Asundi (40:44) Play with it. Aarati Asundi (40:46) Yeah and so using the machinery at the Roxbury factory, he started to experiment with this idea of adding sulfur to the rubber. Meanwhile, his business suffered yet another setback though when some mail bags that he had been commissioned to make started to fall apart in the summer heat. Jyoti Asundi (41:05) Oh no, okay. Aarati Asundi (41:07) And this is likely because he had added color additives to make the bags pretty and that prevented the gum from curing completely. Jyoti Asundi (41:17) Got it. Aarati Asundi (41:20) And again, also, it's important to note here that like now in hindsight, we can say this, but he didn't know this at the time that he was curing the rubber by mixing it with magnesia, boiling it in quicklime, and then dipping it in nitric acid. And that really only hardens the outside layer of the rubber. Jyoti Asundi (41:40) Oh yes, yes, yes. Aarati Asundi (41:42) And that's fine if it's like a thin layer that's spread on the inside of a jacket or on a carriage cover or something like that. But for thicker pieces of rubber where the inside is not getting oxidized by the nitric acid... Jyoti Asundi (41:58) Yes, it can still melt in the heat. That's right. Yes. Aarati Asundi (42:00) Yeah, it's still soft. So the inside is melting even though the outside is hard. Jyoti Asundi (42:05) That makes good sense. Aarati Asundi (42:06) So it's not a perfect method. And when his bags fell apart, people really lost faith in his rubber products in general. Even though his carriage covers and tablecloths and all that were good. Jyoti Asundi (42:21) Yeah, the reputation is taking after hit after hit. ⁓ Aarati Asundi (42:26) Yeah. And so once again, he had to scramble for a living. He closed his factory and set up a workshop in his parlor instead, where he and his family continued to make rubber shoes and he could continue to experiment. One day in the middle of winter in early 1839, he and his family were gathered around a hot stove and as usual, Charles is experimenting with adding sulfur to the rubber. And when he's doing this, he's talking very animatedly, you know, very excited, probably telling some story to entertain his kids. And the rubber mixture accidentally spilled onto the stove. But instead of melting like the rubber usually does when it's exposed to heat, it started to char and harden. He got super excited. He put the rubber outside in the cold so that it could harden completely. And the next morning when he brought it in, it was hard, but it was still flexible and it was not brittle at all. So it didn't break apart. Jyoti Asundi (43:26) Oh wow. Aarati Asundi (43:27) And when he touched a hot iron to it, it didn't melt. Jyoti Asundi (43:32) Oh wow. Aarati Asundi (43:34) So he's super excited by this. He's like, "I did it!" And he went running to show all of his friends and business partners, but at this point they're all so completely worn out by his constant ups and downs. They're like, "Whatever, we can't, we can't deal with this again. Jyoti Asundi (43:50) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's torn his reputation too many times. Aarati Asundi (43:55) Yeah. But Charles was convinced that this time... Jyoti Asundi (43:59) This is it. Yeah, this is it. He's got it. Yeah. Aarati Asundi (43:59) ...he had finally got it. He had finally got it. Yeah. This new method of curing rubber was resistant to heat, cold, and acids. And it was far superior to anything that he had created before, even though, again, he didn't understand the chemistry. But now we know, all of the previous methods including the smoke from the fire, the nitric acid, they were all utilizing oxidative cross-linking at the surface. And adding the sulfur into the sap, mixing the whole thing and then heating it to very high temperatures allows all of the rubber to cross-link, even in the depths of the rubber, it's cross-linking and becoming hard. Jyoti Asundi (44:44) Got it. Makes good sense. Aarati Asundi (44:47) So he calls this "vulcanized" rubber after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, volcanoes, and metalworking. Jyoti Asundi (44:56) Oh nice, that's how the name came. All right, it's nice, nice bit of trivia for me. I like that. Aarati Asundi (45:03) It took him years to finally convince someone outside of his immediate family that he had something truly amazing this time. During that time though, he perfected his technique. He was finding the exact temperature to heat the rubber that was mixed with sulfur so that it wouldn't char, but it would still harden. He stuck the rubber in the oven for hours, hung it over steaming tea kettles, placed it near the fire, and even bothered local shop owners to use their more industrial ovens and boilers so that he could keep experimenting with this. Jyoti Asundi (45:34) Wow, he's just like, yeah, he's just checking every method out to figure out the best way to go forward. Aarati Asundi (45:41) Yeah. Meanwhile though, his family was still relying largely on the charity of friends and strangers to get by. Jyoti Asundi (45:47) Yes, yes. Aarati Asundi (45:49) winter of 1839 to 1840, another of his young sons passed away. And his wife, who was confined in her bed with a new baby, was unable to help the children any way. So they were having a very rough time. Jyoti Asundi (45:06) Yeah, that is sad. Wow, wow. Aarati Asundi (46:08) Yeah, they're just really scraping by trying to get money from anywhere they can, trying to get food any how, any... Jyoti Asundi (46:14) Yeah, such a hard life, such a hard life. Aarati Asundi (46:16) Yeah, very hard. Finally, in desperation, Charles wrote to his brother-in-law, William DeForest, who was a wool manufacturer. William sent him $50 and told him to come to New York with his invention. He initially tried to introduce Charles to some potential business partners. But during that time, Charles actually improved some of William's cloth-making machines by introducing cords of rubber that would create a ruffle in the cloth as it came out of the machine. Jyoti Asundi (46:49) Oooh. Yes. Aarati Asundi (46:50) So it was very cute. Now you not just have a straight ribbon of cloth, you have a ruffled of cloth, which you can make all sorts of cute things with. Jyoti Asundi (46:57) Yes, absolutely. Aarati Asundi (47:01) So William saw this ingenuity again and this inventive mind that Charles had and was like, "You know what? I'm just going to back you myself. This is great." Over the next several years, Charles applied vulcanized rubber to all sorts of industries. In 1867, a biographer named Charles Parton wrote, about rubber. "It was cloth impervious to water. It was a paper that would not tear. It was parchment that would not crease. It was neither rain nor sun could injure. It was ebony that could be run into a mold. It was ivory that could be worked like wax. It was wood that never cracked, shrunk, or decayed. It was metal that could be wound around the finger or tied into a knot." Jyoti Asundi (47:50) Wow, wow, what a fantastic material. Aarati Asundi (47:56) The Wonder Material. Jyoti Asundi (47:58) Yeah, this kind of description you normally see in a fairy tale where somebody grants a boon, you can have these properties. Wow. Aarati Asundi (48:07) Yes. I feel like I was reading this also and I was like, I feel like they must have had the same kind of feeling with whoever invented plastic. Jyoti Asundi (48:16) Yes, absolutely. Aarati Asundi (48:18) Rubber was the plastic of its time. Jyoti Asundi (48:20) Yes, yes. Aarati Asundi (48:22) Despite all of this though, Charles did not all of a sudden become rich. Partly I think due to all of the debts that he had accumulated and the immediate pressure of needing to provide for his family. Jyoti Asundi (48:35) Right. Aarati Asundi (48:36) So Charles would invent something like a new way to create a rubber sole for boots or a rubber sail for a boat. And then as soon as he proved that it was profitable, he would sell the license for a fraction of what he could have made if he was a little bit more shrewd of a businessman. Jyoti Asundi (48:55) Not.. I don't think we can accuse him of not being shrewd. I think he was just desperate. Aarati Asundi (49:01) Yeah he was desperate and also yeah, maybe he just didn't have the luxury of doing normal businessman would do and yeah. Jyoti Asundi (49:07) Yeah, That is correct. That is more accurate. He did not have the luxury of time. Aarati Asundi (49:15) Yes. But then even if people pointed out to him that that deal you made was pretty bad, you got screwed on that deal, he was not concerned at all. His main focus was that whatever license he sold for whatever product would ultimately go towards helping people. Jyoti Asundi (49:33) That's a true man of God actually. It's like "I pray to God by helping his people." Aarati Asundi (49:39) Yes. He said "In reflecting upon the past as related to those branches of industry, the writer is not disposed to repine and say that he has planted and others have gathered the fruit. The advantages of a career in life should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars and cents, as is too often done. Man has just cause for regret when he sows and no one reaps." Jyoti Asundi (50:09) Oh wow! That is profound! Aarati Asundi (50:12) So smart. Jyoti Asundi (50:13) When a man sows and no one reaps, that is the worst curse of all. Wow! Aarati Asundi (50:20) Yes, that's when we have cause for regret is when someone creates something truly valuable and no one benefits from it. Jyoti Asundi (50:29) And no one benefits from it. Wow! Nice, beautiful, beautiful. Aarati Asundi (50:31) Yeah. Yeah. And he's like, still not worried about making money despite all of hardships and everything. Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (50:39) extreme highs and extreme lows. Yeah. In spite of that money is not his main motivator. It's not the driving force. It's the work. It's the it's helping people. It's how to improve humanity. That's his driving force. That is true wisdom. Aarati Asundi (50:56) You know, that movie, that Indian movie, 3 Idiots, where he says, "Do what you love and success will follow,"? Jyoti Asundi (51:03) Yes. Aarati Asundi (50:03) That's exactly what finally happened. So he finally managed to pull himself out of poverty and his family lived a very comfortable life from now on. Eventually, money did start to pour in from all of the licenses he sold, but it was spent just as quickly continuing to invent and do experiments. Jyoti Asundi (51:26) Because that was his true calling. That is what he believed in. He didn't believe in fancy houses and fancy carriages. He was like, find a way to improve this fantastic material to make it even better. Aarati Asundi (51:40) Yep. And the other thing is he was very generous with his wealth. He was always helping others, always giving to charity, and connecting people with jobs whenever possible. Jyoti Asundi (51:52) Because he's been there on the other side of it so often. Aarati Asundi (51:56) Yes. Jyoti Asundi (51:56) Where his was the hand that was outstretched. And he didn't forget that. Aarati Asundi (52:02) Yeah, immediately whenever he saw someone in need he was like, "I'm here, I will help you. What do you need?" Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (52:07) God. So wow, wow. This so touching, truly touching. Aarati Asundi (52:14) However all this success does come with a bit of a downside. Now that he's sold so many patents and licenses to various companies, he was constantly being pulled into legal battles, either by people who didn't want to pay Charles his fair share under the license, or because they were treading on his rights as a patent holder. So people are just seeing that there's money to be made and Charles... Jyoti Asundi (52:38) Yes. Aarati Asundi (52:40) ended up spending a lot of money just having to defend himself and his inventions. One of the biggest cases he was involved with was in 1852 with a man in England named Thomas Hancock, who had obtained the patent for vulcanized rubber in England. So he claimed that he had seen a sample of Charles' vulcanized rubber brought over to England from the US. And Tom Hancock is claiming that he worked out based on seeing the sample, how to make it himself and he got the patent in England before Charles could. Charles tried to negotiate and even moved his family to Liverpool because the fight was getting dragged out. But eventually Thomas Hancock won And so Charles had to give up the patent for vulcanized rubber in England. Jyoti Asundi (53:30) Okay. Aarati Asundi (53:31) And in another piece of bad because God and the universe apparently just can't leave him alone. In 1853, Charles's wife Clarissa fell extremely ill and in March, she sadly passed away. Jyoti Asundi (53:46) Oh...one of his strongest believers and supporters. Aarati Asundi (53:50) Yes, his faithful companion through everything he's been through up until now. And so Charles was heartbroken. Jyoti Asundi (53:57) That is, that's a big blow. That's a big blow. Aarati Asundi (53:59) Yeah, it was a huge, very hard loss for him. But he did find love again. Again, it was just like he just had such a friendly, generous nature that he came by friends easily. And while in London, he met a woman named Fanny Wardell and married her in 1854. And they ended up having three children together. So he bounced back from that too. He always is able to find his way back. Jyoti Asundi (54:27) Yeah, a highly optimistic person who never loses his courage, no matter what the setback is. ⁓ Aarati Asundi (54:34) Yes. And she also seemed like a very faithful, good wife to him also as well. He manages to find really good people in his life. Jyoti Asundi (54:44) Yeah, maybe his strong values brings good positive energy into his life that way. Aarati Asundi (54:52) Yeah. So although he lost the patent in England, he still had a lot of other connections in Europe, particularly in France, where he did hold the patent for vulcanized rubber. So he moves his wife and his new family to Paris, where they started setting up factories to make rubber goods and exhibitions at trade shows. But again, his string of bad luck in business continues. He sets up these factories and exhibitions at great expense, relying on the promise of future sales and stockholder investments. And then when these failed to come through, the checks that he had used to pay for setting all of this stuff up couldn't be cashed. And he was once again thrown into debtor's prison in France this time. Jyoti Asundi (55:37) Hmm. That's very hard. ⁓ goodness. This is so hard to hear. Aarati Asundi (55:40) Yeah, just up and down and up and down. Jyoti Asundi (55:43) This is so hard to hear. His life is a roller coaster. Aarati Asundi (55:47) It really is. I was thinking a lot while writing this story about Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, where he's like talking to God, like God is his personal friend. And, you know... Jyoti Asundi (55:58) Yes, yes. Why God? Why did you do this to me? Aarati Asundi (56:00) Yeah, why? Yeah. And he's like, sometimes I think you just sit up there and you're bored and you're like, what mischief can I play on my friend Tevye? Jyoti Asundi (56:09) Yes, on my friend Tevye. Absolutely. This feels like that, especially with his such strong devotion. And I've had days like that where I literally feel, this should work, this should work. And it doesn't work. I'm like, but, but, why? Why? How? Everything was aligned so perfectly. And the timing was right. The work that went in was correct. Everything was correct. Why did that fail? Why did you do that to me, God? Aarati Asundi (56:37) Yeah. Why is the universe playing this cruel, cruel trick on me? Jyoti Asundi (56:38) Why are you, why are you playing this trick on me, God? Yes, I do feel that sometimes. But I have to learn his optimism and his spirit of "I just do my best and then I have to surrender to the higher forces of the universe." And then what comes to me is a result of that power. What I can do on my side, I have done and that's it. I've done my best and let it go now. Aarati Asundi (57:09) Yeah. And so now once again, he's in the lows of the lows. He's in debtors prison in France. And once he's released, his credibility in France is shot. So he returns to England and here he fell gravely ill. Again, it's that chronic dyspepsia and gout that has been plaguing him throughout his life. It completely incapacitated him. So much so that he couldn't take care of any of his businesses. But in his mind, he's just continually inventing new things with rubber that could help people. And so he's just constantly thinking about it, even though he can't really do much. Jyoti Asundi (57:53) New ideas. Yeah, yes got it. Aarati Asundi (57:57) In 1858, Charles returned to America and bought a house in Washington, DC. By this time, he's very weak and constantly sick. On May 30th, 1860, he heard that his daughter, who was living in New Haven at the time, was extremely sick also and close to dying. Jyoti Asundi (58:16) Oh no! Aarati Asundi (58:18) So despite his own illness, he traveled to try to go to New Haven to see her one last time. But by the time he reached New York, his son-in-law met him and informed him that she had already passed away. Jyoti Asundi (58:34) Such sadness, such tragedy hits him. He barely gets up from one blow and another one strikes him. Aarati Asundi (58:41) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (58:42) It's a hard life. Aarati Asundi (58:44) And at this point, he was too weak to continue traveling any further, so he stayed at Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City, and shortly after, on July 1st, 1860, Charles died at the age of 59. Yeah. Jyoti Asundi (58:59) Oh sadness, sadness. Aarati Asundi (59:01) Yes. It was a very, up and down kind of life. When you think of the name Goodyear, like Charles Goodyear and the inventor of vulcanized rubber, you immediately think, he must have been rich and made a fortune. Jyoti Asundi (59:16) Yeah, that's right. Aarati Asundi (59:16) And like, that's why we know his name because he was this amazing inventor who got super rich when actually he wasn't. Actually, you know, had all sorts of financial troubles and problems throughout his life. Jyoti Asundi (59:29) Yeah, his life was a roller and he took one hit after another. His faith in God allowed him to stand up again, face life with courage again. He set himself up a little bit and again life dealt him another blow. Gets up again and never gives up, never gives up. That indomitable spirit is something that is worth emulating. Aarati Asundi (59:52) Yeah, and I think the only reason we really know his name, as we were talking about in the beginning of this episode is because almost 40 years later after his death in 1898, founded the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company named after Charles Goodyear. And I think that's probably the only reason that we... Jyoti Asundi (1:00:15) still know his name. Yes. Aarati Asundi (1:00:16) really still know his name or that his name is so much part of our vernacular. Jyoti Asundi (1:00:21) It's synonymous with good tires for cars. Aarati Asundi (1:00:25) Yes. In 1976, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. And the American Chemical Society's Rubber Division awards the Charles Goodyear Medal to rubber inventors now. Jyoti Asundi (1:00:40) Oh my goodness, what a fantastic story. Wow thank you for sharing. Aarati Asundi (1:00:46) Yeah something to get you through your travels for Thanksgiving and the holidays. Jyoti Asundi (1:00:50) Seriously. His spirit of perseverance is amazing. I find myself, sometimes down in spirits due to things that happen in life. But when I think of him and the much larger trials that were thrown his way and the much higher courage with which he faced it and the optimism with which he picked himself up and tried again. It's truly humbling and makes me feel petty and small for crying about itty bitty problems that come in my life. Aarati Asundi (1:01:27) Yeah, it's like at least we're not digging for potatoes and eating frogs like his family was, you know, we're... Jyoti Asundi (1:01:35) Very difficult. Very hard to hear about that. It's hard to hear about bad things happening to good people. And obviously, in every way, he was a truly, wonderfully good man. Every quality that makes a human being into a wonderful human being, he had those qualities. And then his life is this tremendous roller coaster. That's hard to hear truly inspiring and makes me feel small and petty when I cry about my small problems in life. Aarati Asundi (1:02:12) Yeah we can only remember him then in those times. Just remember what would Charles Goodyear do? Jyoti Asundi (1:02:18) Yeah, what would Charles Goodyear say to this? If I'm stuck in traffic, it's like, hey, this is a good time to invent something. Aarati Asundi (1:02:25) It's it's God's way of giving you time to think and be at peace. Jyoti Asundi (1:02:28) Yes, be at peace. Nobody's bothering you. So think about that experiment you want to do. Aarati Asundi (1:02:34) Yeah Exactly. Jyoti Asundi (1:02:35) Wonderful. Aarati Asundi (1:02:37) Thanks for listening. If you have a suggestion for a story we should cover or thoughts you want to share about an episode, reach out to us at smartteapodcast.com. You can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Blue Sky @smartteapodcast and listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And leave us a rating or comment. It helps us grow. New episodes are released every other Wednesday. See you next time.