BELGIUM ~ Leo Baekeland ~

... Lovely maxicard nr2 honors one of Belgian's great inventors... Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland is credited with having invented the first thermosetting plastic... in other words, plastic that does not become softer with heat... he created it in 1907 while living in America and named it Bakelite after himself... one of world's first plasticlike materials produced commercially.... colorful objects made of Bakelite are jewelry, telephones, radios, and billiard balls, to name just a few... they brightened everyday life in the first half of the 20thC... a Belgian invention that changed the course of history... with nice matching stamp and first day cancellation👍... Nogmaals hééél erg bedankt *voor alles*😊Johan!(✿ ♥‿♥)

Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944) is a Belgian chemist and inventor. Trained as a chemist at the University of Ghent, he immigrated to the United States in 1889 and in the following years invented Velox photographic paper in 1893 and Bakelite in 1907, a polymeric plastic made from phenol and formaldehyde.

Baekeland was elected president of the American Chemical Society in 1924. He sold the General Bakelite Company, which he had founded in 1910, to Union Carbide in 1939.

Stamp:

Leo Baekeland, 1863-1944 

 (Issued 22-01-2024)