MICHAEL PHELAN, a famous billiards player and supplier, lamented in 1858 that the growing popularity of the game had made the ivory needed for the balls scarce and costly. “If any inventive genius would discover a substitute”, he wrote, “he would make a handsome fortune for himself, and earn our sincerest gratitude.” Five years later, Mr Phelan’s company offered a reward of $10,000 (about $250,000 today) for anyone who could do just that. The result, after some tinkering, was celluloid—the world’s first major synthetic plastic.