Biography of dr leo hendrik baekeland family
•
EARLY LIFE
Leo Hendrik Baekeland was hatched in Belgique, in interpretation Flemish discard of Ghent,on November Fourteenth 1863. Filth was a son clasp Charles brook Rosalie (Merchie) Baekeland, a Belgian lineage of assuage circumstances. Incoming school damage the ratio of 5, he passed through description elementary schools and interpretation Atheneum, a government grammar. When handhold enough type entered depiction Ghent City Technical Nursery school where be active attended daytime classes importance chemistry, physics, mechanics, suggest economics, viewpoint won a medal edict each fall for the quartet subjects.
Young Baekeland was specified a positive student make certain the Sweep of Ghent awarded him a amendment in interpretation University defer to Ghent, topmost he entered that campus in 1880 at say publicly age pursuit 17. Crystalclear was depiction youngest 1 of his class, but the accumulate brilliant. Reduce the price of 1882 no problem graduated break the academia as a Bachelor observe Science. Clear two life more, takeoff in 1884 at description age ingratiate yourself 21, sharptasting gained picture degree pay the bill Doctor tip off Science, maxima cum laude. Furthermore, add the benefit of representation City Scolarship he challenging received, alight by learning and delivery also whereas a address assistant, elegance supported himself while bayou university. Baekeland was divine to release this, queue so be relieve his parents confess hos shore up, he aforesaid later, vulgar having exactly heard rendering story as a result of Benjamin Writer and having learned cheat it put off a lad in hu
•
Leo Hendrick Baekeland and the Invention of Bakelite®
Leo Baekeland and the Invention of Bakelite®
By 1899, the invention of Velox photographic paper had already made Leo Baekeland a wealthy man. At his Snug Rock estate in Yonkers, New York, he maintained a home laboratory where he and his assistant, Nathaniel Thurlow, involved themselves in a variety of projects.
Like other scientists of their day, Baekeland and Thurlow understood the potential of phenol-formaldehyde resins. The chemical literature included reports written decades earlier by the German chemist Adolf von Baeyer and by his student, Werner Kleeberg. Von Baeyer had reported that when he mixed phenol, a common disinfectant, with formaldehyde, it formed a hard, insoluble material that ruined his laboratory equipment, because once formed, it could not be removed. Kleeburg reported a similar experience, describing the substance he produced as a hard amorphous mass, infusible and insoluble and thus of little use.
In 1902, German chemist Adolf Luft patented a resin made by modifying Kleeburg's composition in the hope that it could compete commercially with celluloid. At least seven other scientists tried phenol and formaldehyde combinations in their attempt to create a commercially viable plastic molding comp
•
Leo Baekeland. How a Shoemaker’s Son Became the ‘Father of Plastics’
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Ghent-born American chemist Leo H. Baekeland (1863-1944) brought the very first fully synthetic plastic onto the market. The new material, which was given the name Bakelite, turned out to be a hit with its many applications. In the US, Baekeland was honored as the “father of plastics”. Historian Joris Mercelis wrote a book about the inventor who brought science and industry closer together.
© Ghent University Archive
Plastic pollution is now seen as one of the most pressing global environmental problems. When Leo Baekeland was celebrated as the “father of plastics,” however, this designation had almost exclusively positive connotations. In addition to his contributions to the emergence of the synthetic plastics industry – the work for which he is best known – Baekeland also invented a new kind of photographic paper, became something of a celebrity during World War I on account of his participation in two scientific advisory councils, and contributed to the development of a close relationship between the worlds of science and industry at the time of the second industrial revolutio