The Age of Plastic
Review by Meredith Taylor: Everything you needed to know about the origins of plastic is here in John E Maher’s watchable docu-drama that sheds a light Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944), the Belgian born inventor of Bakelite, which under its common name, Plastic, has dominated our lives since 1907.
Plastic is a dirty word nowadays, but it was hailed as a miracle back in the day when Baekeland first invented the substance. His biographer, Carl Kaufmann, and even a flamenco dancer sing his praises, Mark Ferreira, re-creating dramatised insight into the genius who was not keen on other people.
Review by Richard Whittaker: Oh, polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, how you changed the world. And, oh, Leo Baekeland, how we depend on what you created when you formulated the first synthetic plastic, Bakelite. The Belgian migrant and researcher was as much a father of modernity as Thomas Edison, and All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic is a charming if brief chemistry lesson on the development of a material upon which the 20th century was built.
A podcast with John Maher. Leo Hendrik Baekeland, the “father of modern plastics,” was responsible for one of the most transformative discoveries of the 20th century. Filmmaker John Maher explores this incredible invention in his documentary All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic.