Stephanie Louise Kwolek (1923-2014) is an American chemist known for inventing Kevlar. In 1946, after graduating from what is now Carnegie-Mellon University with a B.S. in chemistry, Kwolek began her career as a research chemist at DuPont's textile fabrics laboratory in Buffalo, New York. She transferred to Wilmington, Delaware six years later when the Pioneering Research Laboratory opened. During her forty years at DuPont, Kwolek's main area of research was polymers, including high-performance fibers like Kevlar, which she was awarded the patent for in 1974.

Kwolek retired from DuPont in 1986 and now works as a consultant in addition to serving on the National Research Council and National Academy of Sciences. Kwolek was awarded a total of twenty-eight patents and won a number of awards for her work, including the National Medal of Technology and Perkin Medal. Kwolek was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1995 and the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2003.