David Rockwell Goddard (January 3, 1908 – July 9, 1985) was an American plant physiologist.
[3][4] Goddard was most known for his contributions to the large-scale production of penicillin, bacitracin and vitamin B2 in World War II.
[2] Work that Goddard participated in at, what was then, the Rockefeller Institute, inspired by Leonor Michaelis, in the early 1930s, led indirectly to the discovery of simple methods of permanently modifying the shape of hair by reducing the disulfide bonds in keratin (hair protein).
The basic chemistry of this discovery was adapted into the technology known in the hairdressing industry as a cold wave, using chemical derivatives of the reagent, thioglycolic acid, that he identified as suitable for this purpose.
Goddard was only interested in the, considerable, scientific implications of this discovery, and refused any suggestion of attempting to patent the process.