Baekeland

[ beyk-land; Flemish bah-kuh-lahnt ]

noun

1. Le·o Hen·drik [lee, -oh , hen, -drik, ley, -oh , hen, -d, r, ik], 1863–1944, U.S. chemist, born in Belgium: developed Bakelite.

Baekeland

/ bāk′lănd′ /

1. Belgian-born American chemist who in 1907 developed Bakelite, the first plastic to harden permanently after heating. Originally used as an insulator, his invention proved to be a versatile and inexpensive material for manufacturing products such as telephones, cameras, and furniture.

Example Sentences

But seriously, one big example is I directed the episode about William Baekeland who is basically this guy who comes off as a British aristocrat, the heir to a billion dollar plastics fortune, and he ends up scamming about a million dollars from a very elite, exclusive group of world travelers.

From Salon

William Baekeland, for instance, came from a lower class community in England and he wanted to be upper class, so his con wasn't really about money, it was about class.

From Salon

The first plastic to contain no molecules found in nature was invented nearly four decades later, in 1907, by a Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland who was trying to find a way to mass produce electrical insulators.

From Salon

The great-grandfathers of plastic – Alexander Parkes, John Wesley Wyatt and Leo Baekeland – undertook thousands of dangerous experiments with combustible ingredients in basements and lean-tos.

From The Guardian

Earlier plastics, like celluloid, were based on plants, and Baekeland himself had been seeking an alternative to shellac, a resin secreted by beetles that was used for electrical insulation.

From BBC