Leo Baekeland Quotes

Leo Baekeland — Belgian Inventor born on November 14, 1863, died on February 23, 1944

Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland FRSE was a Belgian-born American chemist. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893 and Bakelite in 1907. He has been called "The Father of the Plastics Industry":13 for his invention of Bakelite, an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile, and popular plastic, which marked the beginning of the modern plastics industry... (wikipedia)

I was trying to make something really hard, but then I thought I should make something really soft instead, that could be molded into different shapes. That was how I came up with the first plastic. I called it Bakelite.

Well, it was kind of an accident, because plastic is not what I meant to invent. I had just sold photograph paper to Eastman Kodak for 1 million dollars.

In 1893 I founded a chemical company which I ran until 1899.

I also served on many government committees.

Then I was president of the Bakelite Corporation from 1910 to 1930.