It all started with a bug. Without the east Indian lac beetle (“Laccifer lacca") there would be no plastics. This conclusion is admittedly a little tenuous, because some other research chemist undoubtedly would have found a way to produce this versatile material without the impetus of a “bug problem.” However, this particular beetle definitely did influence the development of modern plastics. At the beginning of the 20th century, many chemists were working flat out to provide the rapidly growing electrical industry with an insulating material less expensive than the scarce and expensive shellac – a complex natural product from the secretion of the oriental beetle.

On 20 June 1907, Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland (born 14 November 1863, died 23. February 1944) wrote in his diary: "Solidified matter, yellowish and hard… This looks promising." He had heated phenol, formaldehyde and a catalyst in a sealed copper tube under pressure. Although there had previously been developments like casein or celluloid based on milk serum, the phenolic resin now known universally as "Bakelite" was the first commercially usable, truly synthetic plastic. Shortly after making his strategic breakthrough, Baekeland, a Belgian who had emigrated to the United States, registered his famous heat and pressure patent, although it took two years to be approved.

Several companies subsequently were formed under the name of Bakelite. In 1909, Berlin-based Bakelite GmbH began producing the first test quantities under license, and one year later manufactured the product on an industrial scale. In 1910, the General Bakelite Corporation, later Bakelite Company, was founded in the US, and Baekeland served as president until it merged with Union Carbide. In any case, the name is now history: On 1 June 2005, the former German-based Bakelite AG, which had been acquired by Borden Chemical from Rütgers – Baekeland’s original German partner – disappeared into the merger of Borden, Resolution Performance Products and Resolution Specialty Materials to form Hexion Specialty Chemicals – see Plasteurope.com of 13.06.2005.