Wallace Carothers - Marriage and Decline

Marriage and Decline

On February 21, 1936, Carothers married Helen Sweetman, whom he had been dating since 1934. Sweetman had a bachelors degree with a major in chemistry and worked for DuPont on the preparation of patent applications.

Soon after, on April 30, 1936, Carothers was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a very high honor. Carothers was the first industrial organic chemist to receive this honor. Yet by June 1936, in spite of this honor which validated his contributions to science, Carothers could not shake the depression that prevented him from working. In early June he was admitted involuntarily to the Philadelphia Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, a prestigious mental hospital, where his psychiatrist was Dr. Kenneth Appel. One month later he was given permission to leave the institute to go hiking in the Tyrolean Alps with friends. The plan was for him to day hike with Dr. Roger Adams and Dr. John Flack for two weeks. After they left, he stayed on, hiking by himself, without sending word to anyone, even his wife. On September 14, he suddenly appeared at her desk at the Experimental Station. From that point on Carothers was not expected to perform any real work at the Experimental Station. He would often go in and visit. He began living in Whiskey Acres again, after his wife had agreed with Dr. Appel that she was not strong enough to watch over Carothers.

On January 8, 1937, Carothers' sister Isobel died of pneumonia. Wallace and Helen Carothers traveled to Chicago to attend her funeral and then to Des Moines for her burial. He still traveled to Philadelphia to visit his psychiatrist, Dr. Appel, who told a friend of Carothers that he thought suicide was the likely outcome of Carothers' case.

On April 28, 1937, Carothers went to the Experimental Station to work. The following day he committed suicide in a hotel room in Philadelphia by taking cyanide dissolved in lemon juice, knowing that the ingestion of cyanide in an acidic solution would greatly intensify the speed and effect of the poison. No note was found.