Kathleen C. Taylor

Kathleen C. Taylor (born 1942) is a chemist who won the Garvan–Olin Medal in 1989, and is notable for developing catalytic converters for cars.[1] She currently works at Columbia University and consults for the United States Department of Energy.[1]

Taylor attended Douglass College at Rutgers University, earning a bachelor's in chemistry in 1964; she completed her Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1968 at Northwestern University.[1] She did postdoctoral research at the University of Edinburgh and then joined General Motors in 1970.[1] Her work at GM on catalytic converters helped reduce pollution from car exhaust, following work done earlier by Eugene Houdry.[1] Taylor at GM improved on existing catalytic converters to convert nitric oxide into nitrogen, instead of ammonia, a toxin to humans.[1]