This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Leo H. Baekeland is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Leo Hendrik Baekeland | |
 (1863-1944)
|
|
| Born | November 14, 1863 Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium |
|---|---|
| Died | February 23, 1944 (aged 80) Beacon, NY, USA |
| Occupation | chemist/inventor |
| Known for | plastics research |
Leo Hendrik Baekeland (Sint-Martens-Latem (near Ghent), November 14, 1863 - February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist who invented Velox photographic paper (1893) and Bakelite (1907), an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile, and popular plastic12.
Contents |
Career
Born in Sint-Martens-Latem near Ghent, Belgium, Baekeland was the son of a cobbler and a maid. He graduated with honors from the Ghent Municipal Technical School and was awarded a scholarship by the City of Ghent to study chemistry at the University of Ghent, where he acquired a PhD summa cum laude at the age of 21. He was subsequently appointed associate professor of chemistry in 1889, and married Céline Swarts, the daughter of his head of department.3
In 1889 Baekeland honeymooned in New York, where he met Richard Anthony, of the E. and H.T. Anthony photographic company. Baekeland had already invented a process to develop photographic plates using water instead of chemicals, and was interested in moving to America; Anthony saw potential in the young chemist and offered him a job.4
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 good pictures to be taken in artificial light. After two years of intensive effort he perfected the process to produce the paper, which he named Velox. 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 Leonardi Jacobi and established the Nepera Chemical Company in Nepera Park, Yonkers, New York.4
In 1899 Baekeland was invited to meet George Eastman, who immediately offered him $1,000,0002 for his Velox process. Baekeland accepted at once.4 With a portion of the money he purchased "Snug Rock", a house in Yonkers, New York, and set up his own well-equipped laboratory.
The invention of Bakelite
When asked why he entered the field of synthetic resins, Baekeland answered "to make money". His first objective was to find a replacement for shellac (made from the excretion of lac beetles)1. Chemists had begun to recognize that many of the natural resins and fibers were polymers. Baekeland began to investigate the reactions of phenol and formaldehyde. He first produced a soluble phenol-formaldehyde shellac called "Novolak" that never became a market success. He then turned to developing a binder for asbestos, which at that time was molded with rubber. By controlling the pressure and temperature applied to phenol and formaldehyde, he could produce his dreamed-of hard moldable plastic: bakelite1. The official name of Bakelite is polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride2.
Baekeland officially announced his achievement at the February 1909 meeting of the New York section of the American Chemical Society.5
In 1922, after patent litigation favorable to Baekeland, the General Bakelite Co., which he had founded in 1910, along with the Condensite Co. founded by Aylesworth, and the Redmanol Chemical Products Co. founded by L.V. Redman, were merged into the Bakelite Corporation.5
The invention of Bakelite marks the beginning of the Age of Plastics2. Bakelite was made from phenol (then known as carbolic acid) and formaldehyde. These can be mixed, heated, and then either molded or extruded12. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry winning German Adolf von Baeyer had experimented with this material in 1872, but did not complete its development. Bakelite took the industry by storm after 19071.
Bakelite was the first plastic invented that held its shape after being heated. Radios, telephones and electrical insulators were made of Bakelite because of its properties of insulation and heat-resistance. Soon it penetrated nearly all branches of industry2.
Decline and death
As Baekeland got older, he became more eccentric, getting into fierce battles with his son (and presumptive heir) over salary and other issues. He sold the General Bakelite Company to Union Carbide in 1939, and at his son's prompting, he retired. He became a recluse, eating all of his meals from cans and becoming obsessed with developing an immense tropical garden on his Florida estate. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in a sanatorium in Beacon, New York. Baekeland is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York 6. Leo Baekeland was the grandfather of Brooks Baekeland, whose wife Barbara Daly Baekeland was murdered by their son, Antony in 1972.
Name
Baekeland told The Literary Digest: "The name is a Dutch word meaning 'Land of Beacons,' Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e "Chemical Achievers: Leo Hendrik Baekeland". Chemical Heritage Foundation (2005). Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
- ^ a b c d e f Amato, Ivan (1999-03-29). "Time 100: Leo Baekeland". Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
- ^ Bijker, Wiebe E. (1997). Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change, MIT Press. pp.p. 102. ISBN 0262522276.
- ^ a b c Gehani, R. Ray (1998). Management of Technology and Operations, John Wiley and Sons. pp.pp. 81-82. ISBN 047117906X.
- ^ a b American Institute of Chemical Engineers Staff (1977). Twenty-Five Years of Chemical Engineering Progress, Ayer Publishing. pp.p. 216. ISBN 0836901495.
- ^ Find A Grave Memorial: L. Baekeland
External links
- Chemical Achievers: Leo Hendrik Baekeland
- The Time 100: Leo Baekeland
- Virtual Bakelite Museum of Ghent 1907-2007
- A virtual Bakelite museum with a short biography of Leo Baekeland
- The Baekeland fund
Further reading
- Farber, Eduard (1970). "Baekeland, Leo Hendrik". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 385. ISBN 0684101149.
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 30 November 2008, at 23:22.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Leo H. Baekeland".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.