Leo Baekeland

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.