Leo Baekeland
Leo Hendrik Baekeland HonFRSE (November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist. Educated in Belgium and Germany, he spent most of his career in the United States. 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"[2] for his invention of Bakelite, an inexpensive, non-flammable and versatile plastic, which marked the beginning of the modern plastics industry.[3][4]
Leo Baekeland
February 23, 1944 (aged 80)
Plastics research, Bakelite, Novolac, Velox photographic paper
Jenny Nina Rose Baekeland (October 9, 1890 – 1895)
George Washington Baekeland (February 8, 1895 – January 31, 1966)
Nina Baekenland (July 22, 1896 – May 19, 1975)
John Scott Medal (1910)
William H. Nichols Medal (1910)
Willard Gibbs Award (1913)
Perkin Medal (1916)[1]
Franklin Medal (1940)
Early life[edit]
Leo Baekeland was born in Ghent, Belgium, on November 14, 1863,[5] the son of a cobbler, Charles Baekeland, and a house maid, Rosalia Merchie. His siblings were: Elodia Maria Baekeland; Melonia Leonia Baekeland; Edmundus Baekeland; Rachel Helena Baekeland and Delphina Baekeland.[6]
He told The Literary Digest: "The name is a Dutch word meaning 'Land of Beacons.'"[7] 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[8]: 102 to study chemistry at the Ghent University, which he entered in 1880.[2]: 13 He acquired a PhD maxima cum laude at the age of 21.[8]: 102 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 University in 1889.[2]: 14
Personal life[edit]
Baekeland married Céline Swarts (1868–1944) on August 8, 1889, and they had two children.[9] One of their grandsons, Brooks (whose father was George Washington Baekeland) married the model Barbara Daly a.k.a. Barbara Daly Baekeland in 1942 and had one child, a boy named Anthony "Tony" Baekeland.
Children[edit]
Jenny Nina Rose Baekeland (October 9, 1890 – 1895)
George Washington Baekeland (February 8, 1895 – January 31, 1966)
Nina Baekeland (July 22, 1896 – May 19, 1975)