Jacques E. Brandenberger

Jacques E. Brandenberger (1872 to 1954) was a Swiss chemist, born in Zurich, who invented cellophane in 1908. He wanted a clear, flexible, waterproof film that could be applied to cloth, and while experimenting with liquid viscose rayon on fabric he found that a thin transparent film could be peeled away from the cloth. Recognizing the uses of the new material, he concentrated on it, and by 1912 he had built one of the first machines for producing cellophane on a large scale and set up a manufacturing enterprise in Paris. He was granted patents for his machinery and basic process in 1917 while working at La Cellophane Societe Anonyme, and in 1923 that company sold the North and Central American rights to the DuPont Cellophane Company. His cellophane remains common in packaging, and the invention won him the Gold Medal of the Franklin Institute.