When it comes to advances for humankind, our minds can quickly jump to the busier metropolises. And yet it’s the quieter East Coast and Atlantic Canada that can be credited for an incredible share of the inventions we enjoy today.
Wood-Based Paper
In the 1830s, a teenage Charles Fenerty from Sackville, Nova Scotia, began grinding wood into pulp to make paper after discovering wasps chewing on wood fibre, which turned into a paper-like substance. Most paper, until this discovery, was made from rags. The demand for paper was getting higher, and he produced a quality product from his wood pulp press; however, he unfortunately did not obtain a patent for his invention. In 1987, though, Canada Post issued a stamp in his honour, titling him as the inventor of the world’s first usable
