Teflon (
registered trademark of Dupont for their crazy slippery
polymer)...
was
accidentally invented by
DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett, in (or near)
1938. Very chemically stable, high melting point, and weirdly
slippery in
solid form, it is used as a
non-stick coating on cooking and messy industrial process surfaces. The difficulty of sticking anything to Teflon makes it a good candidate for an
easy-cleaning surface in
high-spill areas, although it is pretty
expensive to throw around in home applications.