being encouraged to by Michael Faraday and others, making it freely available for anyone to make. He received neither fame nor wealth for his invention, although he was able to retire some years later. The credit for his invention was attributed only after his death. Following the ideas laid out by the French chemist, Charles Sauria, who in 1830 invented the first phosphorus-based match by replacing the antimony sulfide in Walker's matches with white phosphorus, matches were first patented in the United States in 1836, in Massachusetts, being smaller in size and safer to use. White phosphorus was later banned for public usage because of its toxicity. Today's modern safety matches were created by the Swedish chemist, Gustaf Erik Pasch. References External links "John Walker & The Match", This is Stockton "John Walker's Friction Light", A History of the World in 100 Objects, BBC 1781 births 1859 deaths People from Stockton-on-Tees English chemists English inventors