Casimir Zeglen left his Polish monastery in 1890 and immigrated to the US to lead a Polish Catholic congregation in Chicago. He was shocked when the mayor of Chicago was assassinated by gunshot in 1893. So shocked, in fact, that he went all in on developing a way to protect public figures from such attacks that could be worn unnoticed underneath a regular shirt, namely, a bulletproof vest. After two years of research with other materials, Zeglen learned that silk had an extraordinary strength, enough to slow or even stop a bullet. Zeglen began learning about the art of silk weaving and developed new methods to make it as strong as needed for his lifesaving vest. He received two patents for his innovation in 1896.
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But despite the vest’s effectiveness, Zeglen ran into problems. His business partner betrayed him. His funding, spent on research, ran out when it came time to manufacture the product. And then the real problem with a silk bulletproof vest came to light- it was biodegradable. Still, Zeglen’s research paved the way for bulletproof materials we have now. Read the story of Zeglen’s bulletproof vest at Amusing Planet.
Source: neatorama