About Famous Chemistry Inventions

For thousands of years, both amateur and professional chemists have been trying to unlock the mysteries of matter. In 440 B.C., Leucippus proposed the idea that atoms exist in all things. This simple theory, one that nearly all people today know to be true, was just the beginning. The subsequent inventions in chemistry have had profound impacts on the world. 

Periodic Table Of Elements

In 1869, a Russian chemist named Dmitri Mendeleev noticed that if all the known elements at that time were arranged in order by their atomic weight, their chemical properties would repeat in periodic cycles. He also theorized that there were a number of elements, which had yet to be discovered. When created his periodic table, he left spaces blank so they could be added in.

Plastic

The first true form of plastic was known as Parkesine and was invented in 1862. Although it was a commercial failure, its impact on chemistry is undisputed. Later, while searching for a substitute for ivory in the manufacturing of billiard balls, an American chemist named John Wesley Hyatt experimented with a form of Parkesine and produced celluloid, the first real synthetic plastic. 

Nylon

In 1935, research scientist Wallace Carothers at DuPont's Experimental Station, invented nylon, one of the most successful synthetic polymers of all time. Nylon was intended to be a replacement for silk, which had become scarce during World War II. The military used it to make ropes, parachutes and other items; they found it to be more durable than silk. Commercially, it was first used in toothbrush bristles, but the material is probably best known for its inclusion in women's hose.