The next time you hold a plastic foam cup full of steaming-hot coffee and your hand doesn’t burn, you can thank Ardashus Aykanian. Born 1923 in Massachusetts, Aykanian earned a master’s degree from MIT and worked for the Monsato Company for close to 20 years as a researcher and senior technologist. Through his groundbreaking research in copolymers, Aykanian helped develop the plastic foam cup, the plastic wrap, the simulated-leather seat cover, and the colored shade band on the upper part of windshields. He also invented the foam core, a very strong, lightweight, and easily cut material used for mounting photo prints and as backing in picture framing, 3D design, and painting. Aykanian eventually left Monsato and launched his own company, where he invented and manufactured the bendable straw and the Slurpee spoon straw. He passed away in 2016