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We knew from recent research that Bakelite, the first entirely synthetic plastic, was patented in 1907 by Leo Baekeland, a Belgian-born chemist-entrepreneur. But was there a not-so-synthetic version that came first? We headed to the American Plastics Council web site, which helped us on our last plastic search, and clicked on the History of Plastics link. There we discovered that the very first plastic was unveiled by Alexander Parkes at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London. This substance -- which the public dubbed Parkesine -- was an organic material
derived from cellulose that could be molded after heating, but retained its shape when it cooled. (As opposed to Bakelite, which, as we mentioned, is entirely synthetic.) So, Alexander Parkes' plastic preceeded Bakelite by 45 years, and earns the title of the first plastic.
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