CHEMIST

Leo Baekeland

1863 - 1944

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Leo Hendrik Baekeland (November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist. Educated in Belgium and Germany, he spent most of his career in the United States. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893, and Bakelite in 1907. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Leo Baekeland has received more than 761,150 page views. His biography is available in 51 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 49 in 2019). Leo Baekeland is the 231st most popular chemist (down from 219th in 2019), the 150th most popular biography from Belgium (up from 155th in 2019) and the 4th most popular Belgian Chemist.

Leo Baekeland is most famous for inventing the first synthetic plastic, Bakelite.

Memorability Metrics

  • 760k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 60.36

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 51

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.61

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.55

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among CHEMISTS

Among chemists, Leo Baekeland ranks 231 out of 602. Before him are Herbert C. Brown, Jacques Dubochet, Hartmut Michel, Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, S. P. L. Sørensen, and Hideki Shirakawa. After him are Luis Federico Leloir, Charles J. Pedersen, Robert Bruce Merrifield, Roger D. Kornberg, Antoine Jérôme Balard, and Johan August Arfwedson.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1863, Leo Baekeland ranks 31. Before him are Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, Franz Stuck, George Santayana, Heinrich Rickert, Reinhard Scheer, and William Randolph Hearst. After him are Annie Jump Cannon, Essad Pasha Toptani, Andrés Bonifacio, Paul Painlevé, Hugo Münsterberg, and Mary Jane Kelly. Among people deceased in 1944, Leo Baekeland ranks 68. Before him are Jean Tatlock, Asmahan, Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal, August Landmesser, Erich Fellgiebel, and Ida Tarbell. After him are Günther Korten, Cécile Chaminade, Yvette Guilbert, Missak Manouchian, Paul Poiret, and Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg.

Others Born in 1863

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Others Deceased in 1944

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In Belgium

Among people born in Belgium, Leo Baekeland ranks 150 out of 1,190. Before him are Marc Dutroux (1956), Luce Irigaray (1930), John I, Duke of Brabant (1252), Michel Preud'homme (1959), Catharina van Hemessen (1528), and Laura Marx (1845). After him are Gudula (646), Henri, Count of Paris (1933), Eric Gerets (1954), Silvio Gesell (1862), Ermengarde of Hesbaye (778), and Lara Fabian (1970).

Others born in Belgium

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Among CHEMISTS In Belgium

Among chemists born in Belgium, Leo Baekeland ranks 4. Before him are Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580), Ernest Solvay (1838), and Yves Chauvin (1930). After him are Jean Stas (1813), George Sarton (1884), and Gilbert Stork (1921).

Belgian born Chemists

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