Who invented bulletproof glass?

The invention of bulletproof glass is often attributed to the French chemist Edouard Benedictus in 1903. Legend has it that he accidentally discovered the principle of laminated glass when he dropped a glass flask that had been coated with a film of liquid nitrocellulose. To his surprise, the flask cracked but did not shatter, as the dried film held the pieces together. Benedictus patented the first version of laminated glass, which he called 'Triplex,' in 1909. While originally intended to reduce injuries in automobile accidents, the potential for security and military use was quickly realized. During World War I, laminated glass was used for the eyepieces of gas masks and later for aircraft windshields. Over the following decades, the technology evolved significantly with the introduction of new interlayers like Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) and the integration of polycarbonate in the 1960s and 70s. Modern bullet-resistant glass is a far cry from Benedictus's first flask, but the core concept of using a clear, flexible interlayer to hold glass together remains the foundation of all modern transparent armor.