Her-man F. Mark, in American Scientist (Mar.-Apr. 1984), P.O. Box 2889, linto on, Iowa 52735.
Nearly everything in the industrialized world seems to be made of plas- tic or at least to contain some of it. Yet it was only a few decades ago that scientists began to understand this remarkable material.
As is so often the case with great discoveries, writes Mark, Dean Emeritus of the Polytechnic Institute of New York, plastic was first cre- ated accident. In 1846, Swiss chemist Christian Schoenbein...