In 1863, a New York manufacturing company launched a competition to find a new material to replace ivory in their billiard balls. Local man John Wesley Hyatt, a printer by trade, tried a novel mixture of cellulose, resin, camphor and alcohol, hoping to win the $10,000 prize, which he didn't. His pot luck approach to chemistry worked, and hey presto! Celluloid, the first modern plastic, was invented.