When Alexander Parkes developed the first man-made plastic in the 1860s, he had no idea what an integral role the material would come to play in our everyday lives.

Plastic history timeline

The uses of plastic materials have grown rapidly in recent years. Plastics today play an important part in cutting-edge technologies such as the space program, bullet-proof vests and prosthetic limbs, as well as in everyday products such as beverage bottles, medical devices and automobiles.

Plastic may refer to::

• Plastic, a polymerized material
• Any material that has Plasticity
• A thermoplastic
• A thermoset
• A genotype that has phenotypic plasticity
• Plastics (group), a Japanese band
• Plastic.com, a community-driven message board
• The Plastic Arts
• "Plastic," a song by Prefuse 73 from the 2003 album One Word Extinguisher
• Slang for credit cards
• A glory hunter   

The history of plastics

In today's world, life without plastics is incomprehensible. We all know the many ways that plastics contribute to our health, safety and peace of mind. But what about plastics' history - how were plastic mateTimeline -

Timeline - Precursors

• 1839 - Natural Rubber - method of processing invented by Charles Goodyear
• 1843 - Vulcanite - Thomas Hancock
• 1843 - Gutta-Percha - William Montgomerie
• 1856 - Shellac - Alfred Critchlow, Samuel Peck
• 1856 - Bois Durci - Francois Charles Lepag

Timeline - Beginning of the Plastic Era with Semi Synthetics

• 1839 - Polystyrene or PS discovered - Eduard Simon
• 1862 - Parkesine - Alexander Parkes
• 1863 - Cellulose Nitrate or Celluloid - John Wesley Hyatt
• 1872 - Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC - first created by Eugen Baumann
• 1894 - Viscose Rayon - Charles Frederick Cross, Edward John Bevan

Timeline - Thermosetting Plastics and Thermoplastics

• 1908 - Cellophane - Jacques E. Brandenberger
• 1909 - First true plastic Phenol-Formaldehyde tradenamed Bakelite - Leo Hendrik Baekeland
• 1926 - Vinyl or PVC - Walter Semon invented a plasticized PVC.
• 1927 - Cellulose Acetate
• 1933 - Polyvinylidene chloride or Saran also called PVDC - accidentally discovered by Ralph Wiley, a Dow Chemical lab worker.
• 1935 - Low-density polyethylene or LDPE - Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett
• 1936 - Acrylic or Polymethyl Methacrylate
• 1937 - Polyurethanes tradenamed Igamid for plastics materials and Perlon for fibers. - Otto Bayer and co-workers discovered and patented the chemistry of polyurethanes
• 1938 - Polystyrene made practical
• 1938 - Polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE tradenamed Teflon - Roy Plunkett
• 1939 - Nylon and Neoprene considered a replacement for silk and a synthetic rubber respectively Wallace Hume Carothers
• 1941 - Polyethylene Terephthalate or Pet - Whinfield and Dickson
• 1942 - Low Density Polyethylene
• 1942 - Unsaturated Polyester also called PET patented by John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson
• 1951 - High-density polyethylene or HDPE tradenamed Marlex - Paul Hogan and Robert Banks
• 1951 - Polypropylene or PP - Paul Hogan and Robert Banks
• 1953 - Saran Wrap introduced by Dow Chemicals.
• 1954 - Styrofoam the trademarked form of polystyrene foam insulation, invented by Ray McIntire for Dow Chemicals
• 1964 - Polyimide
• 1970 - Thermoplastic Polyester this includes trademarked Dacron, Mylar, Melinex, Teijin, and Tetoron
• 1978 - Linear Low Density Polyethylene
• 1985 - Liquid Crystal Polymers