Peter Tsai

Peter Tsai, 蔡秉燚, (b. February 6, 1952) is a Taiwanese American materials scientist and inventor who is best known for inventing and patenting the N95 mask. He is an expert in the field of nonwoven fabric.[1]

Early life and education

Tsai grew up on the family farm in the Qingshui District of Taichung, Taiwan and graduated from Taichung Municipal Cingshuei Senior High School.[2] He studied chemical fibre engineering at the Provincial Taipei Institute of Technology, now known as National Taipei University of Technology.[3]

Career

After graduating college he went to work at the Taiwan Textile Research Institute before finding work in a dying and finishing plant. He then went abroad to the United States for postgraduate work at Kansas State University completing over 500 credits in a variety of subjects including mathematics, physics, and chemistry. After receiving his doctorate he went to teach and work at the University of Tennessee. Tsai retired from the University of Tennessee in 2019.[3] He was a professor in the Department of Material Science and Engineering.[4] In 2020 Tsai came out of retirement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been working with the scientific collective N95DECON on ways to decontaminate N95 masks.[5]

N95 mask

In 1992 while at the University of Tennessee, Tsai led a team attempting to develop electrostatic filtration technology. Their research was successful and led to the creation of the N95 face mask. It was first adapted for industrial use with its utility in medical applications being discovered only later. Tsai continued to do work into mask technology and in 2018 he developed a new technique which doubled the filtration capacity of medical masks.[3]

See also

References
  1. Pei-chun, Huang. "Virus Outbreak: Taiwan-born researcher the man behind N95 mask". www.taipeitimes.com. Taipei Times. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  2. https://english.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=2695
  3. Hsu, Phoenix; Mazzetta, Matthew. "Taiwanese inventor of N95 mask returns to work amid COVID-19 pandemic". focustaiwan.tw. Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  4. "The Man Behind the Mask". tickle.utk.edu. The University of Tennessee. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  5. Bowman, Emma. "N95 Mask Shortage Brings Inventor Out Of Retirement In Search Of Safe Reuse Method". www.npr.org. NPR. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
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