University of Ghent Ghent, Belgium Translated by Ralph E. Oesper University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio
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Leo Hendrik Baekeland (18634944)
Leo Hendrik Baekeland, an outstaudingly successful industrial chemist, was born in the ancient Flemish city of Ghent, November 14, 1863. The family was in no more than moderate financial circumstances and the father planned to have the boy trained as an artisan, but the mother had better thimgs in mind. She early recognized the boy's unusual intelligence and capacity for mental work, characteristics which enabled him to undertake successfully studies that were beyond the usual capabilities of boys of his age. He was ingenious, self-reliant, and had the ability to surmount material and intellectual hurdles standing in his path. After primary school, he went on to the the Athenee Royal and then to the &ole Industrielle. Regularly a t the head of his class, upon graduation in 1880 he was awarded not only medals in chemistry and physics but also a scholarship to the University of Ghent. At the end of his first year he placed first in the competition in the natural sciences and was appointed prepareteur in general chemistry, which was headed by Theodore Swarts (1839-1911) who had studied under Kekule and then succeeded him1. Baekeland was endowed with excellent health, a friendly disposition, spoke easily and frankly, and had a marked sense of humor. He had many friends among the liberal faction of his fellow students. His dissertation was prepared under the guidance of Swarts, and the doctorate in natural sciences was conferred magna cum laude in 1884; he was only 21. In addition to his professorship a t Ghent, Swarts was head of the natural sciences division a t the Ecole Normal in the nearby city of Bruges; in 1885 he secured Baekeland's appointment there as his assistant. The latter now began to carry out investigations independently; his first paper was submitted to the Acadernie Royale de Belgique in 1886. The next year he won an honor that was destined to change the entire course of his life. A competition open to young men from all four Belgian universities was held by the Ministry of Higher Education and a jury of eminent professors2 awarded the first prize in the chemial sciences to Baekeland for his essay "Sur les phknomhes de dissociation." Besides being named Laureate in chemistry, he received a gold medal and, far more important, a sum of money for study abroad. However, he was not yet ready to leave Belgium and post-
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For an account of KekulB's years at the University of Ghent see, GILLIS,J . , THIS J O U R N 38,A118 ~ (1961). T. Swarts was succeeded a t Ghent by his son Frederic (1866-1940); see TIMMERANS, J., THIS JOURNAL, 38, 423 (1961). J. Stas, T. Swarts, W. Spring, P. De Wilde, and L. Henry.
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poned his departure. He returned to Bluges, where he had been promoted to the rank of professor of chemi s t and ~ physics and the next year returned to his alma mater as assistant professor of chemistry. He was pleased to be back in his native city, particularly since it gave him ample opportunity to court CBline Swarts the attractive daughter of his former professor and present chief. They were married on August 8, 1889; and although he was promoted to associate professor a month later, the young couple decided that the time had come for him to use the funds he had won in 1887.
Leo Hendrik Baekelond 118861
His resignation from the University of Ghent was accepted on November 30, 1889, with the privilege of retaining his title agrhgh sphcial . 3 Baekeland definitely decided against the common practice of going to work abroad under a big-name professor. He was satisfied that his basic grasp of chemistry was sound and adequate; he wished especially to learn how university students were being taught and trained to take their places as future leaders in the chemical industry. After visiting a number of French and British universities, the honeymooners settled down for a time a t the University of Edinburgh to observe the methods employed by the eminent teacher and organic chemist Alexander Crum Brown (18381922). Applied research mas certainly not a part of the curriculum or atmosphere a t Edinburgh, and after some inquiry Baekeland took the bold step of going to the United States where Charles F. Chandler (18361925) had created an atmosphere favorable to industrial chemistry a t Columbia University. The young Belgian and the mature American hit it off a t once. T h e r e is no precise equivalent in English for the term agr& sphcial; it may be roughly translated as associate professor.
His stay in New York and the impression he made on Chandler provided an opportunity that changed his entire future life. Baekeland had been a n enthusiastic photographer even as a boy and with increasing competence in chemistry he became seriously interested in the reactions involved during exposure, development, and printing stages. He had taken out a Belgian patent for an automatic self-developing dry plate. In New York, Baekeland attended meetings of the Camera Club and there met Richard A. Anthony, a partner in a concern (later Ansco) making photographic supplies. Struck by Baekeland's unusual knowledge of the field and after consulting Chandler about the young man, Anthony offered him a position as chemist a t the Anthony plant. After two years Baekeland was tired of working under the direction and authority of a business man; he opened a consulting laboratory. He was successful but in time his independent nature again rebelled a t his inability to pursue his own ideas and interests. He wished especially to continue his studies in the field of photographic supplies where he knew a market was waiting for really good products. He invented a paper that did not require sunlight for printing, and with the financial aid of Leonard Jacobi organized the Nepera Chemical Company to manufacture and sell this silver chloride paper. I n line with the then usual source of household illumination, it was sold a t first under the name "gaslight paper," a name later replaced by the more elegant coined name "Velox." Commerical photographers did not adopt the new product, but it was warmly greeted by the amateurs since the paper liberated them from the vagaries of the weather and in addition allowed them to make their prints in the evenings when they had leisure to pursue their hobby. By 1900 the sales became big enough to attract the attention of George Eastman with his Kodak line of cameras and roll film. He informed Baekeland that he would like to buy out the Nepera company and accordingly invited Baekeland to come to Rochester, N. Y., to talk things over. After much calculation and worry as to the asking price, Baekeland decided to be hold enough to ask $50,000 and mentally resolved to take no less than $25,000. Imagine his astonishment when Eastman without ado offered $1,000, 000. After paying offJacobi, Baekeland in 1899 found himself a rich man a t 35. He decided to go back to a university to bring himself up to date on electrochemistry one of the branches of chemistry then coming into industrial prominence. He spent the winter semester of 1900 a t the Technische Hochschule a t Charlottenburg near Berlin. He then returned to his estate near Yonkers and built a modern private laboratory equipped with all the latest facilities. I n 1904, Elon H. Hooker came to Baekeland for help regarding the difficulties that were seriously interfering with the Townsend cells that had been installed in Brooklyn for the production of chlorine and caustic soda. Baekeland acepted the challenge and solved the problem of the short life of the diaphragms. His success was one of the factors that led to the creation of the Hooker Chemical Company and the erection of the electrochemical industry a t Niagara Falls. In the meantime, he continued to study a variety of topics in his private laboratory and in 1905 turned his
attention to the intractable phenol-formaldehyde condensation products. Eventually he conquered this material and put it on the market under the name Bakelite. His first patent in this field was granted in 1906; in all he took out more than 400 patents dealing mostly with the manufacture and appliations of this material, the prototype of the phenolic high polymers. He started the semicommercial production in his laboratory; in 1910 the daily output was 180 liters, most of it going into electrical insulation. He decided that the time had come for the organization of a company devoted to the new industrial material, although the Bakelite Gesellschaft had been operating in Germany since 1910. After World War I, factories were set up in other countries, notably England, Canada, France, Italy, and Japan. Numerous infringement suits were brought against Baekeland; although he won these actions, he detested such proceedings. Accordingly, he suggested to his two chief opponents and competitors that they join him in the formation of a new corporation. His terms were accepted and the Bakelite Corporation was formed in 1922, and a large plant was built a t Bound Brook. The business was very successfull but when the patents ran out in 1932 many companies began to manufacture these condensation products; in 1939 the Bakelite Corporation was absorbed into the Union Carbide and Carbon Company as its Bakelite Division. At the time of his death, the world output of phenolic resins was about 175,000 tons annually. Baekeland received many honors for his scientific and industrial achievements. Important medals came to him, and universities on both sides of the Atlantic conferred honorary degrees on him. He was a member of the U S . Naval Consulting Board (1915) organized to prepare for the impending war against Germany and was its only member who had been born outside of the USA. I n 1917 he was appointed to the Nitrate Supply Commission; in 1918 he served as president of the committee on patents of the National Research Council. American and European technical societies were proud to include him among their honorary members; he served as president of The American Chemical Society, The American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and The American Electrochemical Society. In 1919 he was a trustee of the Institute of International Education. He was Officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium, Officer of the French Legion of Honor, and Commander of the Order of Leopold of Belgium. An indefatigable worker, free from all racial and class prejudice, he had found in the United States a t the end of the nineteenth century an environment, both social and industrial, which fitted his origin and character. Through his keen powers of perception, his creative mode of though, his talent for making things work, and his forceful personality, he made such an outstanding record that in 1923 was judged one of the "seven great scientists" worthy of serving as an example for young people. The name Baekeland and his chemical and financial successes are naturally placed parallel to those of his fellow Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay (1838-1922), whose creative idea (1863) of a new method of producing sodium carbonate led from 1870 on t o the development of the gigantic chemical industry based on Solvay soda. Volume 47, Number 4, April 7964
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Both of these men m r e true benefactors of mankind; they created essential products and provided employment throughout the industrialized portions of the world. In contrast to Solvay, Baekeland's work was done outside his native country. Consequently Baekelaud was not nearly so well known and honored there as was Solvay. A veritable crusade to remedy this condition wai carried on after Baekeland's death by the Belgian A. R. Matthis, whose book "L. H. Baekeland, Chimiste, Inventeur, Grand Industriel" was published in 1948 at B~russelsby the Office de Publicit6 as part of the Collection Nationale. Baekeland wisely relinquished most of his business responsibilities after he found that the first merger had put his enterprise into good hands. He thoroughly enjoyed the things his wealth brought him. He bought
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a second estate and spent much time in this Florida home, where he raised exotic flowers and fruits as a hobby. He was an ardent motorist, and toured Europe by car with his family as early as 1907. Later he acquired a yacht, and christened it "Ion," a fitting name in view of the meaning of that term. He died a t Beacon, S. Y., on February 23, 1944.4 Among the many accounts of Baekeland's life and accomplishments are: POTTER,H. V., Chem. Eng. News, 23, 242, 251 J., Chem. Eng. Nezus, 27,69 (1949); KETTER(1945); XENDALL, IXG, C. F., "Biographical Memoir," Nat. Acrtd. Sciences, WeshM., "Industrial Explorers," ington, 1947, p. 281; HOLLAND, W., in FARBER, E., Harper, NewYork, 1928, pp. 92-112; HAYNES, "Great Chemists," Interscience, New York, 1961, p. 1182; and particularly Brtekeland'aacceptance address for the Perkin Medal, Chem. Met. Eng., 16, 148 (1916).
