Gutta-percha and the first undersea cables
Gutapercha para aislar cables
- Date
- 1843 · confidence high
- Place
- Singapore, Singapore
- Credited to
- William Montgomerie (British surgeon) and Malay artisans
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
A thermoplastic latex from trees of the genus Palaquium that Malays used for tool handles and that Montgomerie sent from Singapore to Europe in 1843. Its pliability when heated and resistance to water made it the insulator of the first submarine telegraph cables.
José d'Almeida reportedly presented samples to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1842; Montgomerie popularised them in Europe. Malays had known it for centuries.
What it led to
- submarine telegraph cables (English Channel, 1851; Atlantic, 1858)
- depletion of the gutta-percha forests of Malaya and Sumatra within a few decades
- use in dentistry, golf and insulation until the mid-20th century