A native of New Zealand, MacDiarmid was a chemist at the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked with Alan Heeger and Hideki Shirakawa on developing new plastic compounds. Normally, plastic is an insulator, but in 1977 the three scientists figured out a way to make plastic conduct electricity, which enabled a variety of new materials such as the electroluminescent displays on cell phones, solar panels, and optical amplifiers. The material was so revolutionary the three men were awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
“Prior to 1977, the only uses for plastics were structural,” said Ohio State University physicist Arthur Epstein — “Styrofoam cups, nylons, polyester for clothes.” In his honor, Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, where MacDiarmid studied, created the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. Weakened by myelodysplastic syndrome (a blood disorder formerly known as “pre-leukemia”, which was completely unrelated to his work), MacDiarmid fell down a flight of stairs at his home on February 7, killing him. He was 79.