Alexander Parkes(29 December 1813 29 June 1890) was ametallurgistand inventor fromBirmingham, England. He createdParkesine, the first man-made plastic.Biography[edit]The son of abrasslockmanufacturer, Parkes was apprenticed toMessenger and Sons,brassfoundersof Birmingham, before going to work forGeorge and Henry Elkington, who patented theelectroplatingprocess.[1]Parkes was put in charge of the casting department, and his attention soon began to focus on electroplating. Parkes took out his first patent (No. 8905) in 1841 on a process for electroplating delicate works of art. His improved method for electroplating fine and fragile objects, such as flowers, was granted a patent in 1843. The patent involved electroplating an object previously dipped in a solution of phosphorus contained in bisulfide of carbon, and then in nitrate of silver. A spiders web, silver-plated according to this method, was presented toPrince Albertwhen he visited the Elkington works in 1844.In total, Parkes held at least 66 patents on processes and products mostly related to electroplating and plastic development.In 1846 he patented the cold cure process for vulcanizing rubber, called byThomas Hancock"one of the most valuable and extraordinary discoveries of the age".[2]He pioneered the addition of small quantities of phosphorus to metals and alloys, and developed phosphor-bronze (patent 12325 of 1848, taken out jointly with his brotherHenry Parkes).[3]In 1850 he developed and patented theParkes processfor economically desilvering lead, also patenting refinements to the process in 1851 and 1852.[4]In 1856, he patentedParkesine- the firstthermoplastic- acelluloidbased onnitrocellulosetreated with a variety of solvents.[5]This material, exhibited at the 1862 London International Exhibition, anticipated many of the modern aesthetic and utility uses of plastics.In 1866 he set up The Parkesine Company atHackney Wick, London, for bulk low-cost production. It was not, however, a commercial success as Parkesine was expensive to produce, prone to cracking and highly flammable. The business closed in 1868., sometime President of the Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants, presented many original specimens of Parkesine to theScience Museumin 1937, the core of the museums Parkesine collection.[7]