Many families have a black sheep, someone who takes off on his or her own path rather than following family tradition. But few black sheep make as enduring-if a tad mundane-a contribution to society as Nathaniel Wyeth did with his invention of the plastic soda bottle.

Born into what many critics consider America's foremost artistic family, Nathaniel Wyeth-named at birth Newell Convers Wyeth after his famous father-showed an early aptitude for engineering. In fact, his technical bent was so obvious almost from the start that at the age of three he was renamed after the senior N.C.'s brother Nathaniel, an engineer. While the rest of the Wyeth kids-younger brother Andrew and three sisters-went into art or music, Nathaniel studied engineering.