Leo Baekeland

Leo Baekeland
Portrait of Leo Baekeland in 1916.
Born	Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland November 14, 1863 Ghent, Belgium
Died	February 23, 1944(1944-02-23) (aged 80) Beacon, New York, US
Occupation	chemist/inventor
Known for	plastics research, Bakelite, Novolac
Awards	John Scott Medal (1910) Willard Gibbs Award (1913) Perkin Medal (1916) Franklin Medal (1940)

Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland FRSE(Hon) (November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian-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" for his invention of Bakelite, an inexpensive, nonflammable and versatile plastic, which marked the beginning of the modern plastics industry.

Leo Baekeland was born in Ghent, Belgium on November 14, 1863, the son of a cobbler and a house maid. He told The Literary Digest: "The name is a Flemish word meaning 'Land of Beacons.'" He spent much of his early life in Ghent, Belgium. He graduated with honours from the Ghent Municipal Technical School and was awarded a scholarship by the City of Ghent to study chemistry at the University of Ghent, which he entered in 1880. He acquired a PhD maxima cum laude at the age of 21. After a brief appointment as Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the Government Higher Normal School in Bruges (1887-1889) he was appointed associate professor of chemistry at Ghent in 1889. Baekeland married Céline Swarts, the daughter of his professor Theodore Swarts and Celine (Platteau) Swarts, on August 8, 1889. They had three children, George, Nina, and Jenny.

In 1889 Baekeland and his wife took advantage of a travel scholarship to visit universities in England and America. They visited New York City, where he met Professor Charles F. Chandler of Columbia University and Richard Anthony, of the E. and H.T. Anthony photographic company. Professor Charles F. Chandler of Columbia University was influential in convincing Baekeland to stay in the United States. Baekeland had already invented a process to develop photographic plates using water instead of other chemicals, which he had patented in Belgium in 1887; Anthony saw potential in the young chemist and offered him a job.

Baekeland worked for the Anthony company for two years, and in 1891 set up in business for himself as a consulting chemist. However, a spell of illness and disappearing funds made him rethink his actions and he decided to return to his old interest of producing a photographic paper that would allow enlargements to be printed by artificial light. After two years of intensive effort he perfected the process to produce the paper, which he named "Velox"; it was the first commercially successful photographic paper. At the time the US was suffering a recession and there were no investors or buyers for his proposed new product, so Baekeland became partners with Leonard Jacobi and established the Nepera Chemical Company in Nepera Park, Yonkers, New York.