As concern for the environment heightened, automobile makers searched for a technology to help them meet new emission control standards. In 1970, as Americans gathered for the first Earth Day, Dr. Rodney Bagley, Dr. Irwin “Irv” Lachman and Ronald Lewis collaborated to answer this call with a landmark invention: cellular ceramic substrate.
Their material breakthrough came the next year. With a process discovery in 1972, Corning launched preparations to manufacture ceramic substrates. Debuted in 1975 automobiles, the new product – Celcor®– allowed for a 95 percent reduction of hydrocarbon emissions by the end of the century. Corning went on to develop other applications for diesel, to curb pollution in stationary facilities such as power plants and in liquid filtration.