when was plastic invented

Plastic doesn’t have a single “birthday,” but most experts point to the mid-1800s.

Quick Scoop

• The first widely recognized man‑made plastic is called Parkesine, invented by Alexander Parkes in the 1850s and patented in 1856.

• Parkesine was shown to the public at the Great International Exhibition in London in 1862, where it drew a lot of attention as a moldable material that kept its shape when cooled.

• The first fully synthetic plastic (made entirely from chemicals, not modified natural materials) was Bakelite, created by Leo Baekeland in 1907 and patented in 1909.

So, if someone asks “when was plastic invented?”:

• For early man‑made plastic: mid‑19th century (Parkesine, 1855–1856, shown in 1862).

• For modern fully synthetic plastic: early 20th century (Bakelite, 1907–1909).

In everyday explanations, people often round this off and say plastic was “invented in the 19th century” with Parkesine, then “took off in the 20th century” with Bakelite and all the familiar modern plastics that followed.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.