Désirée Le Beau was an early pioneer in what is known today as rubber recycling. A colloid chemist (one concerned with substances made up of tiny insoluble, nondiffusable particles suspended in a medium of different matter), she developed methods of reclaiming natural and synthetic rubbers, primarily from old tires, to be used to produce new products, and held several patents for these processes. Le Beau made significant strides in this field during World War II, when American rubber sources were unavailable due to the conflict.

Born to Phillip and Lucy Le Beau in Teschen, Austria-Hungary (now Poland), on February 14, 1907, Le Beau worked briefly in Paris before Hitler's aggressions in Europe prompted her to relocate to the United States. Le Beau's lifelong career began as a college fluke, when she inadvertently sat down in the chemistry laboratory instead of her intended pharmacy laboratory. By the...