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...
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.
Mathematician. Born Merchiston Castle, Edinburgh, his family home. 7th Laird of Merchiston (though Wikipedia says 8th). Inventor of logarithms. Died Edinburgh.
Drawing master, social reformer and inventor. Wikipedia's page differs significantly from the Oxford Dictionary of National Bigraphy. They agree that he was born in Kent and trained as a painter. H...
Astronomer and journal editor, born at Rugby. In 1865 Lockyer and his family moved to a house (no longer extant) near Swiss Cottage. Here, using a special spectroscope to examine the sun, he discov...
Sculptor. Served his apprenticeship at Woburn Abbey. Studied stone carving and sculpture at the City and Guilds of London School of Art, where he obtained a first.
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