It's 1951 in a nondescript laboratory in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Chemist Robert Banks and his colleague Paul Hogan are trying to extract more octane from petroleum than their predecessors did. Instead, a flask of propylene gas has mysteriously transformed into a white, toffee-like consistency. The National Inventors Hall of Fame credits the pair with inventing crystalline polypropylene and a breakthrough low-pressure process for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) — substances that revolutionized the plastics industry because they were stronger and more heat-resistant than existing materials.
An underwhelming discovery that took decades to pay off
A discovery of this magnitude is rarely celebrated immediately after it is made, as the case of Banks and Hogan illustrates. Their plastics initially had little commercial success as manufacturers clung to their existing supplies of other materials. However, that changed in 1956 when America's love for the Hula-Hoop saw toy manufacturers scrambling to secure large and cheap stocks of plastic. Marlex, the trademark of Phillips for the plastic obtained by Hogan and Banks, was quick to fill the need. This was soon followed by hospitals adopting HDPE (high-density polyethylene) baby bottles, as they were resistant to the high temperatures of sterilization.
