Leo Baekeland

Leo Baekeland (born November 14, 1863, in Ghent, Belgium, died February 23, 1944, in Beacon, New York) was a chemist, engineer, and photographer who held citizenship in both Belgium and the United States. He studied at Ghent University. Baekeland is widely recognized for his creation of Bakelite, a type of plastic that was a groundbreaking material in the early 1900s. In 1978, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.