On February 15, 2023, Dr. Graham Johnson Lake passed away at his home in Abbots Langley, England, at the age of 87. Lake was the winner of the 2003 Charles Goodyear Medal. The Goodyear Medal honors individuals for “an outstanding invention, innovation, or development which has resulted in a significant change or contribution to the nature of the rubber industry.” The award recognized the singular impact of his discovery of rubber’s fatigue limit1,2 and of the Lake–Thomas theory of its molecular origins,3 which successfully explained for the first time the effects of polymer chain chemistry and of crosslink density, and of his many other contributions to rubber science. Lake had previously received the United Kingdom rubber industry’s highest honor—the Colwyn Medal in 1995.
Lake was born on April 13, 1935, in Croydon, Surrey, England. Before his scientific career, he had a three-season career (1956–1958) playing professional...