Baekeland, the son of a shoemaker and a maid, was born in Ghent on 1863. 1884, at the age of 2 1, Baekeland received his doctorate from Ghent university. At the age of 24, he became a professor of physics and chemistry at Bruges Teachers College. 1889 just married the daughter of a university tutor, and Baekeland won a travel scholarship to go to the United States to engage in chemical research.
Encouraged by Professor Columbia University, Baekeland stayed in the United States and worked for a photography supplier.
He invented photographic paper and applied for a patent. The patent was sold to Kodak for $850,000.
Baekeland turned a barn into a fully equipped private laboratory, and cooperated with others to build an experimental factory in Brooklyn. At that time, the booming power industry included a huge market for insulating materials. Baekeland's eyes focused on shellac, a natural insulating material.
Baekeland got a paste-like sticky substance, which became a translucent hard plastic-phenolic plastic after molding.
Phenolic plastic is the first completely synthetic plastic in the world. 1909 On February 8th, Baekeland disclosed the plastic at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Phenolic plastics are insulating, stable, heat-resistant, corrosion-resistant and nonflammable. Baekeland claims to be a "multi-purpose material". Especially in the rapidly developing automobile, radio and electric power industries, it is made into plugs, sockets, radio and telephone housings, propellers, valves, gears and pipes. At home, it appears on billiards, handles, buttons, knife handles, desktops, pipes, thermos bottles, electric thermos bottles, pens and artificial jewelry.