Invented by Alexander Parkes in about 1856 and originally called Parkesine, what was the first thermo-plastic?
Science and invention in Birmingham Priory Club. The first celluloid as a bulk material for forming objects is invented in 1856 by Alexander Parkes. Many years later, and with the recognition of celluloid as a format for making photographic film, an American court declares Parkes as the true inventor of celluloid. 1862: the thermoplastic Parkesine is showcased at the Great International Exhibition in London. Invented by Alexander Parkes, this celluloid is credited by the London Science Museum to be "generally accepted as the first plastic". (This presumably refers to synthetic plastic formed into objects: it is predated by the 1848 collodion, a nitrocellulose-based solution that
Alexander Parkes 2002. The Birmingham Civic Society erected a Blue Plaque commemorating him in 2004 on the original Elkington Silver Electroplating Works (The old Science Museum), Newhall Street, Birmingham. There is also a plaque on the wall of the site of the Parkesine Works. In September 2005, Parkes was posthumously inducted into the American Plastics Academy’s Hall of Fame. He is buried in West Norwood Cemetery, London, although his memorial was removed in the 1970s. Alexander Parkes Alexander Parkes (29 December 1813 29 June 1890) was a metallurgist and inventor from Birmingham, England. He created Parkesine, the first man-made plastic. The son