Paul John Flory was an American chemist and Nobel laureate who was known for his work in the field of polymers, or macromolecules. He was a leading pioneer in understanding the behavior of polymers in solution, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1974 "for his fundamental achievements, both theoretical and experimental, in the physical chemistry of macromolecules". Paul John Flory was born in Sterling, Illinois, on June 19, 1910. American Paul J. Flory won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1974 for his work with polymers, the building blocks of plastic and rubber. He worked at DuPont chemistry working on calculating the growth of polymer products, a discovery that was used intensely during World War II for the U.S. Synthetic Rubber Program. Flory published papers on his work and was bestowed numerous scientific awards. In 1974, he received the National Medal Of Science. He died on September 9, 1985 in Big Sur, California, United States.