Eastman Chemical Company ((new)) -

“He didn’t ask if it was profitable,” Leo says. “He asked if it was possible.”

In 2026, a global crisis hits: mountains of discarded mattresses and colored plastic bottles. No one can recycle the dye out of the PET. eastman chemical company

A technician holds it up to the light.

Henry never intended to stay in Kingsport. Like most young men in the foothills of the Appalachians, he had one foot out the door, dreaming of Detroit’s assembly lines or the jazz clubs of Chicago. But his father, a foreman at the new “Eastman” plant, had given him a piece of advice: “Son, don’t chase smoke. Learn to make something solid from it.” “He didn’t ask if it was profitable,” Leo says

The world was hungry for solvents. Cameras needed film, and film needed chemicals that didn’t exist yet. Henry spent three weeks failing. He mixed esters, boiled aldehydes, and watched his beakers turn the color of mud. A technician holds it up to the light

They vote yes.