Leo Baekeland, the son of a shoemaker, went to school at the 'Koninklijk Atheneum' in Ghent, at the Ottogracht. At a young age he received a grant at the university of Ghent. He obtained a doctorate in Physical Sciences. Later on he migrated to New York.
In 1999 Leo Baekeland was the only Belgian who was nominated in the top hundred of the Most Important People of the twentieth Century -category Scientists and Thinkers- by the American magazine Time. Baekeland made his most important inventions in the United States. The story of his life is a reflection of the American dream.
In 1890 Leo Baekeland invented Velox, the first photographic paper which made it possible to develop images relying on artificial light. Baekeland sold the rights of his invention to the Eastman Kodak Company for an astonishing sum of money and bought a country estate at the Hudson River. The barn of the estate was converted into a laboratory. Baekeland had a new mission...
At the end of the nineteenth century one of the most 'popular' bugs was the Laccifer lacca. Their resinous secretion proved to be an effective electrical insulator. Soon however the demand for the resin outstripped the supply. Hundreds of chemists in the United States and Europe thoroughly searched for a synthetic subsitute with the same characteristics as the resin.
During the summer of 1907 Leo Baekeland experienced his 'eureka moment'. The world's first fully synthetic plastic was unveiled and at once Baekeland began to produce his 'bakelite' at large scale. Rivals who tried to skirt his patent right were invited to merge, which was a smart move!
In this way the former son of a shoemaker made his way to the top of a veritable 'bakelite' empire. In 1924 Time Magazine put Leo Baekeland on the cover.
Besides a scientific genius Leo Baekeland also had an extraordinary knack for business. At the age of 36 he was already one of the richest people in de States. His relations with the university of Ghent remained ambiguous for a long time.
Baekeland's voyage to the States was partly motivated by the not particularly stimulating climate at the university. Afterwards he remained vindictive towards his alma mater, even when it clearly appreciated his merits.
