20th Century Technology

Plastics
In 1908, Belgian inventor Leo Baekeland created Bakelite, the first plastic, by combining phenols and formaldehyde; it was used originally as an alternative to ivory billiard balls. Light, durable and colorful, plastic today feeds a $260 billion industry, used in a seemingly endless array of products from phones to keyboards, credit cards to Tupperware. Plastic spin-offs include neoprene, Plexiglas, nylon, Teflon and bulletproof kevlar.

• The Voting Machines of America