In 1908, Belgian inventor Leo Baekeland created Bakelite, the first plastic, by combining phenols and formaldehyde; it was used originally as an alternative to ivory billiard balls. Light, durable and colorful, plastic today feeds a $260 billion industry, used in a seemingly endless array of products from phones to keyboards, credit cards to Tupperware. Plastic spin-offs include neoprene, Plexiglas, nylon, Teflon and bulletproof kevlar.

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