stastny´s invention
Empty shoe polish tin, Styrofoam, (10 x 10 x 26 cm)
In 1949 Fritz Stastny was experimenting with polymers to develop an insulation material for telephone cables at BASF. Right after the war there was no proper laboratory equipment so in order to experiment under airproof conditions he used tins of shoe polish, one of which he forgot in a heating device over the weekend. When he came back to his lab the following week he found the lid raised 26 cm above the can, on top of a column of what is today known as Styrofoam.