Beyond Bakelite Leo Baekeland and the Business of Science and Invention

English | 2020 | ISBN: 0262538695 | 491 Pages | PDF EPUB (True) | 517 MB
The Belgian-born American chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur Leo Baekeland (1863-1944) is best known for his invention of the first synthetic plastic-his near-namesake Bakelite-which had applications ranging from electrical insulators to Art Deco jewelry. Toward the end of his career, Baekeland was called the "father of plastics"-given credit for the establishment of a sector to which many other researchers, inventors, and firms inside and outside the United States had also made significant contributions. In Beyond Bakelite, Joris Mercelis examines Baekeland's career, using it as a lens through which to view the changing relationships between science and industry on both sides of the Atlantic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He gives special attention to the intellectual property strategies and scientific entrepreneurship of the period, making clear their relevance to contemporary concerns.