1907

Bakelite^®

Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863–1944), Nathaniel Thurlow (1873–1948)

In the early twentieth century, organic chemistry began to furnish materials that had never been seen before. A few indications of this type of advance had appeared in earlier decades: polystyrene had been accidentally prepared, although its uses remained undiscovered for many years, and in the 1870s, a new substance called celluloid had been made during a search for an ivory substitute for billiard balls, but it used a natural polymer (cellulose) as a starting point.

Bakelite was something else again. It was discovered in 1907 by Belgian-born chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland and his assistant, Nathaniel Thurlow, during a deliberate search for new materials. There had been references in the German chemical literature reporting on reactions between phenols and formaldehyde, but they mostly noted that the glassware used for those experiments was ruined. The new substance that formed, whatever it was, would dissolve in nothing known to science. For years, these properties were thought to be a sure sign of the product’s uselessness, but by the early 1900s it was dawning on numerous researchers that there might be some real value in a material like this if only its formation could be controlled.

At the time, Baekeland was trying to soak wood in phenol/formaldehyde mixtures to see if he could strengthen it, but the tests did not go well. Some of the material that did not soak into the wood, though, formed a hard gum, which he made the subject of further experiments. Tweaking the conditions produced a resin that could be molded while it was a thick liquid, but then hardened quickly into a permanent form. This was Bakelite, the world’s first thermosetting plastic. Although somewhat brittle, it was extremely versatile, and when it was found to be an excellent electrical insulator, its future was assured. The electrical appliance industry was expanding rapidly, and Bakelite was just what it needed for a wide variety of parts. Dubbed by Baekeland as “the material of a thousand uses,” it was also used in many retail goods, including radios, telephones, costume jewelry, and game pieces. While other plastics have often taken their place, phenolic resins like Bakelite are still being made.

This vintage 1930s radio is made out of Bakelite. Such items are now sought by collectors, since the Bakelite era overlapped with Art Deco design.

1907

Bakelite®

Bakelite^®