Dr. G. Victor Sammet Sr.
Northern Industrial Chemical Company (NIC)
Inducted 2024
George Victor Sammet Sr. (1880 – 1958) pioneered plastics in its early days. He provided leadership and financial support to the new industry for decades. Sammet was a significant innovator and instrumental leader in plastics, molding, and industry associations.
Sammet earned an undergraduate Chemistry degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Leipzig in Germany.
Throughout his life, Sammet fostered intellectual collaboration and social networking. As a senior in 1900, he was a founding member and first president of MIT’s Senior Chemistry Society, established to collaborate and share knowledge between faculty, students, and business leaders.
As a Post-graduate Researcher at MIT in 1903, Sammet co-published the first Physical Chemistry education materials in the United States. At the same time, he performed Chief Bacteriologist duties for the City of Boston. Sammet began his career researching new pesticide products at Merrimac Chemical Company (later purchased by Monsanto).
In 1907, Sammet co-founded Northern Industrial Chemical Company (NIC), an oleo-coloring business in Boston. The company’s oleo-coloring success allowed Sammet to self-fund plastics research and molding capacity expansions. Sammet researched phenol-resins, leading to his co-invention of Roxite, a plant-based compound.
Around 1918, NIC expanded its molding material capabilities to include Bakelite, Condensite, and Redmanol. Over the decades, Sammet and his employees automated and perfected many molding processes, which began with hand-jack presses and 12-hour bake times.
NIC became one of the largest molders in the Northeast, making a wide range of products, including automobile parts, dinnerware, and communication device housings. NIC manufactured critical military components during both World Wars. Sammet retired and sold the company in 1956.
In 1937, he established the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI – now PLASTICS), giving the first $100 to fund the organization during the Depression. SPI was later renamed the Plastics Industry Association.
G. Victor Sammet Sr. helped charter the Plastic Pioneers Association (PPA) in 1942 to preserve the histories of people who contributed to the plastics industry.