The Plastic That Changed The World Today In History with The Retrospectors
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- History
In this week’s Sunday episode, exclusively for 🌴 CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴members, we recall February 5th, 1909, when Leo Baekeland announced his invention of Bakelite to the American Chemical Society.
Having already earned a fortune selling his photographic patent to Kodak, the Belgian-born chemist had opened his own lab in Yonkers, experimenting with formaldehyde and phenol. The resulting material, which he called Bakelite, could be used in everything from toys to automobiles, and was marketed as ‘The Material of 1,000 Uses!’
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the explosive billiard balls of the post-ivory era; explain why plastic was a game-changer for the costume jewelry market; and reveal how the material played a surprising role in one of the great art crimes of the 20th century…
Further Reading:
• The Story of Bakelite, the First Synthetic Plastic (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/story-of-synthetic-plastic-1991672
• ‘How plastic became a victim of its own success’ (BBC, 2017): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41188462
• ‘How Bakelite Changed the World’ (How Stuff Works, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnEtfdthmG0&t=13s
Thanks so much for supporting the show! We massively appreciate it.
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Edit producer: Sophie King
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.
In this week’s Sunday episode, exclusively for 🌴 CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴members, we recall February 5th, 1909, when Leo Baekeland announced his invention of Bakelite to the American Chemical Society.
Having already earned a fortune selling his photographic patent to Kodak, the Belgian-born chemist had opened his own lab in Yonkers, experimenting with formaldehyde and phenol. The resulting material, which he called Bakelite, could be used in everything from toys to automobiles, and was marketed as ‘The Material of 1,000 Uses!’
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the explosive billiard balls of the post-ivory era; explain why plastic was a game-changer for the costume jewelry market; and reveal how the material played a surprising role in one of the great art crimes of the 20th century…
Further Reading:
• The Story of Bakelite, the First Synthetic Plastic (ThoughtCo, 2019): https://www.thoughtco.com/story-of-synthetic-plastic-1991672
• ‘How plastic became a victim of its own success’ (BBC, 2017): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41188462
• ‘How Bakelite Changed the World’ (How Stuff Works, 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnEtfdthmG0&t=13s
Thanks so much for supporting the show! We massively appreciate it.
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Edit producer: Sophie King
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.