Born Birmingham. Initially worked on improved methods of electroplating. 1856 patented Parkesine, a celluloid recognised as the first man-made plastic (chewing gum, shellac and natural rubber are all classified as plastics).
1866 he set up The Parkesine Company at Hackney Wick intending to manufacture Parkesine cheaply in bulk but this was not successful and closed in 1868. Died London.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Alexander Parkes
First plastic in the world, known as 'parkesine', invented by Alexander Parke...
Organic and physical chemist. Born and died in Paris. Very successful and well-known in his lifetime. Achieved high office in the Chemical Society of Paris and in the French Academy of Sciences.
Born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, on Christmas day, according to the calendar in use at the time. Died in Kensington (where he had gone in search of country air). The exact dates of birth and dea...
Born in "The Lodge" in Helensburgh, near Glasgow. Inventor of mechanical television. Picture of him demonstrating a prototype at Selfridges, 1925. Died in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex.
Chemist and physicist. Born Norfolk. Trained and worked as a doctor. 1797 moved to London and in 1801 stopped working and concentrated on his interests, setting up a private laboratory at 14 Buckin...
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born on 27 April 1791 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA. He was an artist who travelled to Italy, Switzerland ,France and England where in 1811 he gained admittance...
