Leo Baekeland

Leo Hendrik Baekeland was a Belgian chemist. Educated in Belgium and Germany, he spent most of his career in the United States. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893, and Bakelite in 1907. He has been called "The Father of the Plastics Industry" for his invention of Bakelite, an inexpensive, non-flammable and versatile plastic, which marked the beginning of the modern plastics industry.

14 November 1863

Born on the same birth day (14 November): Boosie Badazz • Boutros Boutros-Ghali • Buckwheat Zydeco • Dominique de Villepin • Donald Canfield • Jimmy Piersall • Johann Nepomuk Hummel • Leopold Staff • Monique Mercure • Narciso Yepes • Paul Attanasio • Rosemary DeCamp • Sherwood Schwartz • Tung-Yen Lin • Valerie Jarrett

Born in the same month (November 1863): Alfred Perot • Andrés Bonifacio • Paul Signac