“The Bakelizer” commemorative booklet produced by the National Historic Chemical Landmarks program of the American Chemical Society in 1993

Dedicated November 9, 1993, at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Commemorative Booklet (PDF)

History is shaped by the materials we develop and use. For thousands of years, humans used stone to fashion tools. Some 5,000 years ago, we learned how to make alloys of copper, and the Bronze Age began. Centuries later the Iron Age introduced iron as the material of choice. The introduction of Bakelite—the world’s first synthetic plastic—in 1907 marked the introduction of the Polymer Age.