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.”

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

“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.”

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

“I also served on many government committees.”