Industrial Chemist

Since 1912, bald, businesslike Dr. Lucas Petrou Kyrides (rhymes with Wheaties) has been grinding out inventions in a steady stream. His inventions, now totaling over 100, include a syphilis-curing drug (Mercurosal), the first U.S. process for making synthetic rubber from isoprene and butadiene, the first U.S. synthetic rubber tire (in 1913). As a research boss at St. Louis' potent Monsanto Chemical Co., Dr. Kyrides is one of the nation's top industrial chemists. But not until last week did he get his first public kudos: the American Chemical Society's first annual Midwest award for outstanding contributions in chemistry.

At Monsanto, where Dr. Kyrides avoids his flossy executive offices and spends almost all his time in his laboratory, he is esteemed as a modest, impulsive, absent-minded scientist. His present colleagues did not know of his pioneering work in synthetic rubber until World War II sent them to their reference books.

Born in Turkey of Greek parents, Dr. Kyrides came to the U.S. as a youngster, worked his way through the University of Michigan, has devoted himself to two great passions. The other one is ballroom dancing, at which he proved so ardent and proficient a student that he was invited to become a professional. A shyly affectionate man, he often turns up in the laboratory with chocolate bars for his assistants. Sometimes, walking in the street with a friend, he darts into a store, emerges with a bag of peanuts and silently hands it to his companion.

Said Dr. Kyrides last week, after receiving his 97th patent: "There's a lot of work to be done, a lot of problems that are unsolved. Sometimes I feel that, even past 60, my career is just getting off to a good start."

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